Born To Be Wild
by Slashapalooza
Summary: Sora Harada absolutely can’t stand that arrogant rich boy Riku Masaki. Then, Sora’s best friend Kairi blackmails him into putting himself up for auction at the school fund raiser. Unfortunately for Sora, it’s Riku who buys him.
1. Of Comedy and Tragedy

**Title:** Born To Be Wild

**Author:** Slashapalooza

**Disclaimer:** It's getting harder every day for me to wake up and know this one truth: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. I don't own Sora. I don't own Riku. I don't even own Kairi – Not that I would ever want to own her anyway. I mean, geez, with that kind of motivation, it's a wonder I haven't bombed Square-Enix by now. Oooh, I think I just had a good idea…

**Rating (With Author Commentary): PG-13 Parents Strongly Cautioned:** Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13 (not that you won't read it anyway). This signifies that the film rated may be inappropriate for pre-teens (like for, oh, say, your three year old sister). Parents (as if they're reading this) should be especially careful about letting their younger children attend (and possible pick up some bad language). Rough or persistent violence is absent; sexually-oriented nudity is generally (note the word: _generally_) absent; some scenes of drug use may be seen (just to give your kids even more ideas); one use of the harsher sexually derived words may be heard (basically meaning that people will call other people whorishly slutty hoes).

**Summary:** (AU) Sora Harada absolutely can't stand that arrogant rich boy Riku Masaki. Then, Sora's best friend Kairi blackmails him into putting himself up for auction at the school fund raiser. Unfortunately for Sora, it's Riku who buys him. Can Riku get Sora to see that he's not such a bad guy after all? (RS)

**Plot's Note:** I would just like to say that I do not approve of this story at all. What's wrong with you people? Sora and Riku aren't in love! Did you ever play the game? Sora's in love with Kairi and Riku gets shoved off to the side somewhere, you blind, ignorant, evil—

**Author's Note:** Don't listen to him. He's just bitter because there are more Riku and Sora fans in the world than Sora and Kairi fans (How weird is that?) Good job, guys! Recruit more people to the cause!

**Sora's Note:** I hate you. All of you. Not only do I get shoved into the 'girl' role 9 times out of 10, but most of the time I have to get molested. You sick, sick, sick people.

**Riku's Note:** Let's keep in mind what's really important here. _Me_. And _my_ needs. So, Sora, why are your clothes still on?

**Kairi's Note: …**God help us all.

**Genre:** **_Romance_**, meaning there will be kissing, hugging, sappy speeches, heartfelt emotions, broken hearts, sexual thoughts, actions (non-explicit of course) and perhaps cuddling. **_Humor_**, meaning there will be sarcasm, cynicism, mockery, teasing, taunts, and humorous situations including hiding in trash receptacles and cheating the taxi cab driver out of his pay. **_Slash_**, meaning there will be boys kissing boys, boys molesting boys, boys shoving boys up against walls and making out with boys, boys sticking their hands down other boys' pants (Sora: …I think I hate this story already), boys buying other boys, boys being disappointed that buying other boys doesn't cover asking for sexual favors (Riku: Damn…), and boys falling in love with other boys.

**Spoilers:** None whatsoever. Unless you want a spoiler from the story itself in which case… Er… The taxi cab driver is really mad that he doesn't get paid?

**Feedback:** Come on. You know you want to make me feel all good about myself. Wink wink. Hint hint. Nudge nudge.

**Setting:** Kaibara High School in Osaka, Japan. Why in Osaka, you ask? Because imagining Sora and Riku with those Texan accents that Osakan people have in the anime dubs makes me squeal uncontrollably.

**Date Begun:** March 22, 2005

**Date Posted: **March 24, 2005

**Part I:** Comedy and Tragedy

_"Anything I've ever wanted to do, I've done. Anyone I've ever wanted to be with, I've had." **— Calvin Klein**_

_.Riku's POV._

There are three things about this school that I love: the fact that I'm well loved and respected by all, the fact that I've been in more people's pants than anybody else I know, and the fact that, even though I never hang around long after that, I still have throes of admirers.

Which may lead you to wonder if the student body of Kaibara High is on crack or just stupid, but this set up works well in my favor, which is all that really matters.

I'd been going to Kaibara for the last two years and was all set to graduate next year, in style and, hopefully, as valedictorian. I'd probably expect a guy like me – popular, athletic, rich – would be extremely illiterate and failing all his classes, but that's far from the truth.

In fact, the only kid with grades higher than mine happened to be one Sora Harada, my current object of obsession.

I was, at the present moment, seated under a tree in the school's courtyard, surrounded by Leon, Tidus, and ten girls who's names I didn't know or want to know, really. My attention was on the boy sitting all the way at one of those stone tables just outside the school building.

Why they'd even built those things was a mystery to me because the tables were in direct heat of the sun and sitting there guaranteed a sun burn if you didn't wear the right protection.

However, I had to admit the tables weren't so bad because they gave me a perfect view of Sora from where I was seated. And Sora was well aware that I was watching him, if the deadly glare he shot me was any indication.

I gave him one of my trademark devilish smirks, watching him roll his eyes and turn back to his conversation with two other girls whose names I should know, but only remembered if I had to.

I think one of them was that Kairi girl from my Chemistry class who sat in the back of the room and, every so often, blew something up, earning us all a free period. With such talent, she was hard to dislike.

The other girl was Selphie, the one from my gym class who went up against the entire class in dodge ball – and won. I happened to be absent that day, but the grumbling complaints I got from my fellow classmates were highly amusing.

"Riku? Are you paying attention?"

The female voice snapped my attention from trying to figure out exactly what shade of blue Sora's eyes were. I blinked, turning to look at one of the blondes. What was her name? Cherry? Or was that what I called her because I couldn't remember her real name and she thought it was a cute, sexual nickname?

No, wait, I think that was one of the redheads. Or maybe a brunette.

"No. Sorry, what were you saying?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and putting on my 'charming' face. Tidus and Leon saw this coming from a mile away and rolled their eyes simultaneously, looking away in disgust.

Pfft. Jealously wasn't pretty on either of them. Not that they were all that pretty to begin with.

"I was asking if you were going to be participating in the boys' auction tonight?" Cherry repeated, raising an eyebrow at me. The rest of the girls leaned in, probably anticipating my yes.

"The auction…" I repeated under my breath. Every year, the school had an annual auction. It was mostly to prove that we didn't live in a completely patriarchal society (or so my history teacher explained since he ran the thing) by selling the boys off to raise money for the school.

The 'sold' male had to do whatever the 'buyer' said for an entire week. Well, okay, the buyer couldn't say something like 'Take off all your clothes, screw me senseless, then go jump off a really tall bridge' and expect the guy to follow, but you get what I mean.

Still, I really didn't feel like being owned for an entire week. If I was going to be in any week-long relationship with some girl, I wanted to be boss. I didn't handle taking orders very well, but I was great at giving them.

Besides, it wasn't even a girl of _my_ choice.

"Nah, I don't think so," I answered finally, ignoring the disappointed groans. "I will, however, make a guest appearance. Just to see who buys who." They still looked disappointed so I added, "Maybe next year."

The bell signifying the end of lunch rang and I got to my feet, dusting off my jeans and grinning. Lunchtime never failed to give me an immense ego boost. "Well, ladies, it's been fun but I'm afraid that I'm going to have to leave you all now."

I wasn't surprised as a familiar voice called out, "And the world releases a collective sigh of relief."

It looked as if Sora was paying closer attention to my conversations than he'd been letting on. I chuckled, turning towards the stone table and giving Sora my most endearing look. "You know, Sora, hiding your true feelings of lust and desire towards me is unhealthy. And completely transparent."

"You know, Riku, your completely arrogant and pompous look on how the world views you is unhealthy and completely annoying," Sora deadpanned, rolling his eyes as he gathered his things and got up from the table. I gave Leon and Tidus a look, telling them to go on without me, then walked over to Sora and smirked at him.

"Oh really? So I was only imagining those girls sitting with me?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sora rolled his eyes. "The opinions of a few hundred airheads is nothing to feel good about. Those of us with minds can see how you truly are. And I don't like what I'm seeing." He fixed his gaze on me, looking annoyed. "Now, if you'll excuse me, you're in my way."

I moved so I was standing directly in front of him and he was trapped between me and the table. I braced my hands on either side of him, leaning in close. "Are you _sure_ you really want me to move?"

Sora sighed in irritation. "It's at times like these I wonder why you only date girls."

"Now is not the time to be discussing my sexual orientation, Sora," I pointed out, stepping back so that he could finally move. How that boy managed to resist my advances all the time was _beyond_ me.

Fortunately for me, nobody else seemed to be able to do the same thing.

Sora slid out from between me and the table, giving me a dirty look. "Now you've gone and made me late for class. I hope you're proud of yourself."

"I got to pin you to a table. Of course I'm proud of myself," I said with a very satisfied smile. Sora muttered obscenities at me under his breath and started walking away. I caught the words 'arrogant', 'pompous', and 'son of a—' before he was completely out of view.

I, however, had a free period then and there was no way in hell I was spending it on school grounds. I pulled a cell phone out of my pocket. "Hello? Lars? Can you swing by the school and pick me up? I want to go to Starbucks."

"You know your father hates it when you go there when you can get quality coffee at home," Lars informed me in that annoying, nasal tone of his.

I rolled my eyes. If I didn't want to spend my free period at school, why on earth would I want to spend it at home? "I know. Now, if you could please—"

I cut myself off when I saw Lars pull up at the side gate. He was used to my free period cut-outs by now. I smiled, pocketing my phone and heading to the car. Strawberries and cream crème, here I come.

* * *

_"Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall in an open sewer and die." **— Mel**** Brooks**_

_.Sora's POV._

"Sora, glaring daggers out the window during class is not a healthy pastime," I heard Kairi say to me as she slid into the seat behind me. I turned my attention from the window, where I'd been watching Riku climb into a limo and drive off, to her with an irritated noise.

"What is it with people and telling me what's healthy and not healthy today?" I asked, smiling a bit when Kairi started laughing. She was hard to stay mad at. And incredibly scary when she was the one who was mad at you.

"Sora, just because you're mad at Riku for being right—"

I glared at her. "What exactly are you implying, Kairi Hotaka? That I am in love with that jerk?" I raised an eyebrow. "What did I tell you about smoking pot behind the school during study hall?"

Kairi huffed. "I have not being smoking pot. I'm just stating facts and all the facts are pointing to you being madly in love with him."

"Oh," I said, as if some great epiphany had been revealed to me. "So that's why I glare at him, scowl every time someone mentions him, and insult him and his fat head as much as possible! Thank you, Dr. Freud."

Kairi was about to pursue the matter further, but, thankfully, our algebra teacher, Mr. Yumata, entered the room and all talking stopped. I opened up my notebook to take notes since algebra wasn't my best subject, even though I managed to get all As, when a note fluttered into my hand.

I sighed and opened it. _So… Sora… Are you coming to the auction tonight? _It read. I rolled my eyes. Why would I want to go to a stupid auction and watch my classmates get sold off to desperate girls and probably get mauled and molested on their way out the door? It seemed a waste of time to me.

Besides, Scooby Doo On Zombie Island was playing on Cartoon Network for the first time ever tonight and there was no way I was missing that for some stupid auction.

When I expressed these feelings to Kairi, I was promptly jabbed sharply in the back with her pencil as she hissed, "I think you should sign up."

I winced and made sure Mr. Yumata wasn't looking my way before I hissed back, "I think you should really lay off the drugs."

She jabbed me again. "I'm not taking drugs!"

"As nice as that is to hear, Miss Hotaka, could you refrain from causing your boyfriend bodily harm in my classroom?" Mr. Yumata said flatly. I was about to calmly accept this rebuke without saying anything, but Kairi was a completely different story.

"He's not my boyfriend. Sora's gay," she said, loud enough for the entire district of Osaka to hear. I flushed as I heard the snickers and buried my head in my hands.

"Oh. Well. Um," Mr. Yumata cleared his throat and blinked. "Moving on…"

Thank you, Kairi.

I shot Kairi a glare over my shoulder once I was sure it was safe, then went back to my note taking until I felt a familiar jab. Automatically, I said, "No."

"Oh, come on, Sora. You know you want to put yourself up for auction," she said in her sing-songy voice. The same voice that persuaded me to take the entire plate of free samples and run that one time at the supermarket. And the same voice that got me to go see if that old lady's pit bull was friendly.

The pit bull was; the old lady wasn't. I still had a bruise from where she hit me with her cane for trying to 'steal her dog'.

"Kairi, with my luck, I'll get bought by, like, the principal because nobody else wants me and then I'll end up cleaning her office every day for the rest of the week," I whispered back, not taking my eyes off the board.

"I'll buy you if nobody else does," Kairi said. I could just hear the amusement in her voice at the thought of me standing up there in humiliating shame until she finally called out, 'I'll take him! I've only got a quarter though!'

Sold for a quarter. I would _never_ live that down.

"I'm not going to do it, Kairi, so you can just get that idea out of your head right now," I stated firmly as the bell rang. I blinked in surprise. I'd wasted the whole period talking about the stupid auction instead of taking notes?

Once again, thank you, Kairi.

I got up, shoving my books into my bag with the intention of making a quick getaway since Kairi was quite persistent, but by the time I looked up she was already standing in front of my desk.

I groaned. "Kairi, no."

"Sora, yes," Kairi taunted, grinning at me. "It'd be an enlightening experience. Besides, I've always wanted to own you for a week."

"Now that is such wonderful motivation," I said flatly. I smiled a bit. "_Girlfriend_."

Kairi scoffed. "You wish I was." She smirked. "Or, maybe you're wishing for a boyfriend? A certain white-haired, arrogant boyfriend? Who happens to be obsessed with you at the moment? And had you pinned up against a table less than—"

"If I killed you right here and now, no one would notice," I informed her, pulling my bag strap onto my shoulder and starting to walk out of the classroom. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to go and have English class with Sir Brags A Lot."

"I didn't want to have to do this, Sora," I heard Kairi say in a pained voice. A very _fake_ pained voice. I stopped in my tracks and turned around, raising an eyebrow at her. She was rummaging through her backpack. "I know we've been best friends for years and years, Sora, but if you can't do me this one favor when I've done so much for you—"

I lifted my shirt to show her the bruise from that old lady.

"—That bruise notwithstanding." She finally seemed to find whatever it was she was looking for and pulled out a very battered and bruise stuffed bear. I blinked.

"Isn't that the stuffed animal I used to sleep with?" I asked, starting to get nervous and stepping towards her.

Kairi smirked. "Mr. Snuffa McSnufflingtons. The stuffed animal you stopped sleeping with… last week." She smirked even more. "And the only reason you haven't gotten back into the habit is because you gave it to me for safe keeping."

I blinked again. "Kairi…"

"And if you don't sign up for the auction, I'm sure the entire student body would love to know that their future valedictorian had to wean himself from his stuffed animal at the age of seventeen," she finished as she waved the teddy bear in front of my face.

I tackled her. "GIVE IT TO ME!"

"Make me, Harada!"

There was much struggling and rolling around on the ground. Two desks got overturned, papers went flying, and Kairi lost her head band. But it was all for a noble cause. I had to get that bear back!

"Give. It. To. Me."

"Never! You'll have to fight me for it!"

"Don't make me have to tie you down and—"

"Mr. Harada! Miss Hotaka! If the two of you wish to engage in sexual acts, PLEASE don't do it in my classroom!" Mr. Yumata screamed from the door. I groaned as I realized what kind of position I was in.

I was currently pinning Kairi to the ground, leaning closely over her to try and reach the bear and she was arched up to keep the animal out of my grasp with her hair messy and her shirt riding up.

I groaned again.

Mr. Yumata clapped a hand to his face. "Mr. Harada, you can't possibly still be getting off with me in the doorway watching you…"

The thought of me 'getting off' with anyone, especially Kairi, while Mr. Yumata was watching was more than enough to cause me to turn a sickly green color and leap off of Kairi like she had the Bubonic plague.

I covered my face with my hands, turning a bright red color. Kairi tugged down her shirt and tried to get her hair back in order, shoving The Stuffed Animal of Doom back in her bag. She cleared her throat. "Right. So. Sora. After your English class, how about we go to the cafeteria and sign you up, hm?"

I muttered inarticulately under my breath and trailed out of the classroom after her, certain I'd never been more embarrassed in my life. That seemed to happen a lot when Kairi was around. It seemed her mission in life was to 'make my life better' which inevitably ended up with me in the worst positions.

Take that any way you want to.

I ran my fingers through my hair, ignoring the smug look Kairi shot me as she pointed towards the cafeteria, then disappeared to her next class. I rolled my eyes and headed towards English, walking in and blinking as everybody stopped what they were doing and stared at me.

I glanced at the clock on the wall and cursed as I realized I was late. I mustered a half-smile as I looked at Miss Ryusaki. "Um… Er… Sorry I was late, Ma'am, but I was busy—"

"Oh, we know. We heard the commotion," she said with a smirk on her face. I turned a shade of bright red as she gestured for me to take my seat. "For a girl who's not your girlfriend, you two sure seem to play a lot."

"We weren't playing! She was blackmailing me!" I insisted. "I wouldn't play with her even if I liked girls. Kairi's like my best friend. I've seen her in her underwear before. Not a pretty sight."

"…Thank you for sharing, Sora," Miss Ryusaki stated in a strained voice. "Now, please take your seat and keep your tales to yourself."

I sighed and headed to the back of the room, sitting down at my place right next to The Devil Incarnate. I decidedly ignored him in favor of opening up my copy of Much Ado About Nothing. It was some Shakespearean book Miss Ryusaki had decided would be absolutely perfect for us to read in class.

I didn't like it very much, though. I couldn't figure out why, although Kairi said it was because the plotline hit a little too close to home.

"Getting frisky in the classroom, huh, Sora? I'm proud of you," I heard Riku whisper in amusement. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"You mean you're not seething with uncontrollable jealousy?" I asked in a dull voice, not really caring either way. But for somebody who was 'obsessed' with me, he sure was fickle. Although, I really couldn't see what there was to be obsessed about. I wasn't a very interesting person.

In fact, I could survive with three things: Sugar, air, and my mom. The word 'Momma's boy' fits me well.

"Of course I am," Riku returned, a smirk evident in his voice even though I wasn't looking at him anymore. "In fact, I think, to make up for it, we should get frisky in this classroom right after class."

Ha. Yeah, right.

"As appealing as that sounds," I said in a voice that told him it was anything but. "Right after class, I have to go to the cafeteria and sign up for the auction." I sighed. "Kairi's forcing me, not that it's any of your business."

"Oh really…" Riku murmured in a tone that I wasn't sure I liked very much. I turned my head to look at him, blinking.

"Oh really… what?" I asked suspiciously, narrowing my eyes.

Riku seemed to snap out of whatever spell he was in and gave me another one of those fake charming smiles he was so famous for. "Oh nothing. Don't worry that pretty little head of yours."

"Right," I said, turning back to the lesson.

* * *

_"I consider myself influential, as opposed to manipulative." **— Richard Hatch**_

_.Riku's POV._

I was busy trying to pick out what I wanted to wear to the auction when the phone rang. Choosing an outfit was a very delicate situation. I could get mauled at any time by anxious females who mistake me for one of the participators.

I was considering wearing Velcro to save my outfit from being ripped to shreds, but not only was Velcro uncomfortable as a whole, but I didn't own any outfits that had Velcro on them.

But, right, the phone.

I sighed, not feeling like stopping what I was doing, and pressed the button for the speaker as I tried to decide between a black muscle shirt and a blue t-shirt. "Hello?" I answered with a sigh.

"Er… Riku?" I didn't recognize the voice, but I felt like I should have. I was in no mood for admirers at the moment, however, so I merely ignored the person in favor of sifting through my closet. "Riku? Is that you?"

"Who are you, where do I know you from, and have we slept together yet?" I asked as I pulled out some beige cargo pants. Those were standard questions I asked all the girls that called me.

"Excuse me? I wouldn't sleep with you if you paid me!" the girl said, obviously insulted. Then she seemed to think better of her tone and cleared her throat. "This… This is Kairi. You know, Sora's friend?"

Now I was interested. I dropped what I was doing and turned to the speaking. "The one he was getting it on with in the math room?"

"WE WERE NOT GETTING ANYTHING ON!"

I only barely managed to jam my fingers in my ears before she started screaming. Didn't she realize how many enraged girls would be on her ass if I went deaf? Not to mention my father would kill her and my mother…

…Well, mother would probably laugh. If she were in town at the moment.

"Right," I said when I deemed it safe to drop my fingers. "So… The reason you called is…?"

"Well," Her voice had gone from angry to amused in a matter of seconds and I began to wonder if maybe this girl was bipolar. "I know you're interested in Sora and I have a proposition for you."

"I don't make deals with strange girls who have three mood swings within the span of two minutes," I informed her in a cutesy voice, turning back to the closet.

"I'm not having mood swings! I'm trying to get you to buy Sora at the auction tonight, you bubble-headed—"

"Come again?" Once again, she'd managed to capture my interest. "You want me to what?"

"I want you to buy Sora at the auction!" Kairi repeated as if I was incompetent. "I mean, I know you like him and I know he likes you – or he should because you two would fit so well together – so I think you should buy him tonight. There are no rules specifying that only girls can bid."

I blinked for a few minutes. "Owning Sora for an entire week…" I murmured aloud. This was the same thing I'd been thinking about in English class earlier. Sure, Sora hated me beyond all reason, but, hey, I was so charming and loveable that after one week with me, he couldn't possibly still hold a grudge.

Right?

"Sounds promising," I said in the detached manner my father had taught me to use. Not saying 'yes' or 'no', in true politician style. "I'll think carefully about your offer."

I could just picture her rolling her eyes at me. "Whatever. Just trying to help my friend find true happiness."

"You think Sora can find true happiness with me?" I asked in surprise. And to think I was only going to buy him to have some… innocent fun with him all week. I felt sort of guilty.

Sort of.

"I think you two could benefit from the relationship," she said in the same detached politician way that I had answered her mere minutes ago. "Think carefully about my offer. See you tonight!"

The sound of the dial tone signified the end of the call. I shook my head. Some people were just plain infuriating. But at least my mind was at ease knowing that Sora and Kairi had not, in fact, been getting it on in the classroom. Somehow the thought hadn't sat well with me.

Of course, the thought of having Sora all to myself for a whole thing was something I enjoyed a lot. Too bad sexual favors weren't included in the deal, but I was confident, with enough of my manly charms, Sora would hop into my bed with no problem.

The Riku Masaki Charm™ never failed.

I checked the clock behind me and hummed thoughtfully. I had roughly 30 minutes before the auction started and still no outfit ready. When in doubt…

"Clarisse!" I called, waiting for the maid to appear. She was not only my maid; she was also my fashion consultant. She was also responsible for setting out my uniform for me in the mornings because I was in no position to do anything more than grunt until at least 9am.

She appeared in less than five seconds, heading over to my closet without my needing to say anything. That done, I headed downstairs for some food.

We had one of the hugest kitchens in the world, with a fridge that could hold three horses, a cow, and twelve chickens and still have room, so there was no chance that I would be starving any time soon. I got a simple hot pocket out of the freezer and put it in the microwave, waiting for it to heat up before grabbing it, taking a bite, and heading back upstairs.

Clarisse was finished by that time, leaving a black t-shirt and the beige cargo pants from before on the bed for me along with my Converse sneakers. I clapped for her, laughing as she bowed and left the room.

Another thing I loved about the woman – there were no words needed between us. It was my belief that the female race talked entirely too much to be healthy. Take that Kairi girl for example.

Or Cherry.

Or my mom.

But I digress.

I changed into the outfit Clarisse had laid out and brushed my fingers through my hair, grabbing a few hundred dollars out of sock drawer and heading out of my room and down the stairs. "Dad! I'm leaving now! I'll be back later!"

"Try not to get carried home by the police again!" Dad called back from his office three doors down from the kitchen.

"ONE TIME!" I reminded him, rolling my eyes and locking the door behind me. I climbed into my Porsche, knowing I could very well take the limo, but, geez, driving a limo late a night practically screamed 'mug me'.

Actually, so did driving a Porsche, but that was about as low-key as our cars got.

I parked my car in the school parking lot, barely able to find any space for it with the huge amount of cars already crammed in there, and headed inside to the auditorium. As soon as I opened the doors, I was overcome by the wild screaming of about half the student body.

I spotted Cherry and some other girls on the other side of the room and was about to head that way when I was suddenly grabbed and shoved in the opposite direction.

I wasn't surprised to find that it was Kairi who was manhandling me. I gave her a dull look. "Can you let go of me, please? There's got to be some kind of law against this."

She ignored me. "Sora's coming up next. I'm just trying to maneuver you so that he won't be able to see you when you bid on him. He'd probably race offstage or something."

"That's reassuring," I said in amusement. "Thanks, I think."

"You're welcome," Kairi answered, letting go of me and then disappearing into the crowd. She probably didn't want to be found at the scene of the crime. I smiled in amusement, my eyes going to the stage as Sora finally walked out.

* * *

_How can you talk if you haven't got a brain?" asked Dorothy.  
__"I don't know. But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don't they?" answered the Scarecrow. **— The Wizard of Oz**_

_.Sora's POV._

"And now, for contestant number three! Sora Harada, a junior here at our fine high school and one of the smartest around. Not to mention he's absolutely adorable! Come on out, Sora!"

I made sure to give Mr. Iwamoto a huge glare on my way onto the stage where I was momentarily blinded by the lights. How had Kairi managed to get me into this mess? I didn't want to be sold!

The days of slavery ended long ago, didn't they!

Kairi had even been kind enough to come over to my house and choose an outfit for me to wear, although I could have picked out the jeans and red t-shirt myself. She'd even tried to run a comb through my hair.

Well, five combs.

All of them got broken.

I sighed, trying to look like I actually wanted to be here. I don't think I pulled that off very well, but at least I managed to get to the end of the stage, waiting for someone to start bidding.

"We'll start the bidding at… twenty dollars. Do I hear twenty? Twenty?"

To my surprise, people were actually bidding. My cheeks turned a very bright red I hoped wasn't noticeable. Then again, considering I was under a spotlight and everything, I was pretty sure everyone could see.

"Fifty? Do I hear fifty-five? Okay! Do I hear sixty? Sixty, anybody?"

What were these people planning to do with me for the next seven days, anyway? I was not doing anybody's homework. They gave us enough as it was without me having to do twice the work.

I tried to locate Kairi in the crowd and spotted her over by the door, chatting with Selphie. I narrowed my eyes at her and she caught the look, smirking and holding up her backpack.

Oh god, she'd brought the evil Stuffed Animal of Doom with her.

I blinked, tuning in to realize we'd hit the one hundreds.

"Do I hear one fifty? One fifty! Wow, you girls must really like this boy. Do I hear two hundred?"

The room fell silent, waiting for somebody to actually volunteer this insane amount of money on my behalf. I scratched the back of my head sheepishly when no one said anything, wondering who was winning me.

"Going once… Going twice…"

"Two hundred," called an amused voice from the back of the room. I immediately tensed up at the familiarity of it. And the sheer lack of femininity.

"Going once… Going twice… Sold to the young lady for two hundred dollars!" Mr. Iwamoto called, pointing out into the crowd. Everybody was turning their heads to see who had bought me, but the person was somewhere in the far back. I craned my head to try and see, but I couldn't see a thing.

"I resent that comment. Who says I'm a 'lady'?"

I took a step back. "No… You're kidding… Tell me you're kidding…" However, it was obvious the closer the person got to the stage that it was none other than the bane of my very existence. "Riku, what the heck do you think you're doing?"

He gave me an innocent look. "Um, helping to raise money for the arts department?"

I leaned down so that I was at eye level with him and poked him in the forehead. "Unless you've been hiding something from the entire student body for the last three years… or earlier… then you can't buy me!"

Riku patted me on the head. "Relax, Sora. It'll be fun. Besides, there are no rules against this… Right, Mr. Iwamoto?"

The teacher was flipping through the auction rulebook. After a few minutes, he shot me an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, Sora, but… while this is unusual… he's not breaking any rules…"

I paled significantly.

Riku smirked.

And suddenly, my whole world came crashing down.

* * *

**End of Part I**


	2. Of Carnivals and Cleaning

**Title:** Born To Be Wild

**Author:** Slashapalooza

**Disclaimer:** So, last week I was off from school and I was sitting on my lazy butt and watching TV and a commercial for KH:COM came on so I stood on my bed and started screaming that one day I would own Kingdom Hearts and Sora and Riku would bend to my will.

Then my dad told me to stop standing on the furniture, so I went back to writing so I could bend Sora and Riku to my will until I can get my hands on Kingdom Hearts and bend the real things to my will.

Basically, my will must be obeyed. Ha, just kidding.

**Author's Note:** Oh my gosh, I so wasn't expecting this much feedback! Thanks to everyone who reviewed! You really got my butt in gear for the next chapter. I still have no set plan for this story, but I'm working on it. I'm not even sure how long it will be.

Anyway, thanks to everybody who read and reviewed and even to the people who read but didn't review! You all really motivate me. Thanks!

**Addendum: **I now have a plan for this story! Mwahaha. And today is my birthday. Today as I'm finishing this chapter anyway. And I'm even starting a new new story! Ha ha ha! -looks positively evil-

**Addendum Part II:** Thanks to all the people who emailed me presents and stuff! I enjoyed them all and I'm just so happy you all care! -cries- No time to answer reviews since it's late and I'm putting this up because I wanted to give you guys a present for my birthday, but, I love you all!

**Thanks To:**

Lady Samurai, Dark-Saiyan-Angel, Fanfiction fan, oto wo dasanai utai-te, MooNBladDeR, Insert Bad Cliché Here, AJH, Hiza-chan, KhaosFlamez, KHlover, hikkix2, DavilsThrill, Kuri-the-Kreep, LiLi-Sama, HEARTS-ALCHEMIST, SamMan, Ren Almasy, Jenni's Heart of Gold, yingOwari, Tinkeu, The Writer, you fools, lymerai, PSYCH0tic, Tifas-love, Amwise Gamgee, oObritchanOo, Reina-183, Redaura, playingwithfire, Weeble Wobble Chic, jaz7, Icedragon316, kuramasgirl13, lilc, Moi, Staryday, kmsweetness, watanabechiaki, Mujyakina-Hitokoroshiya, greyspark, ChibiNekoSakura, QianYun, Tama-Kitsune, Will's Girl, KyokiXKurama, Momochi Zabuza, Riku's gurl, XxX Chains XxX.

**Date Begun:** April 3, 2005

**Date Posted:** April 8, 2005

**Part II:** Of Carnivals and Cleaning

_"Start the day with a smile and get it over with." **- W. C. Fields**_

_.Sora._

I ignored the snort of laughter that came from beside me and cautiously poked my head out of my current hiding space. I frowned a bit. "Kairi… this is not funny. It's degrading."

"Hey, you're the one who decided to hide in the trash can instead of facing Riku head on. Why didn't you just stay home?" Kairi asked, glancing down at me in amusement. I shifted on top of the garbage I was sitting on and sunk down lower until only my eyes were visible between the trash can and the lid.

"Because if I stayed home, then I would have had to put up with _Mom_ laughing at me," I pointed out. "She finds the whole thing absolutely hilarious. And kinky."

Kairi grinned. "Well… if you think about it…"

"I'd rather not, thank you very much." I sank down further until I couldn't see anything but the walls of the trash can and frowned. "Tell me when the coast is clear."

There was a pause before Kairi's voice answered, "It's safe. You can come out now."

Sighing in relief, I stood up only to gasp in horror to find an amused looking Riku standing right in front of me. I narrowed my eyes and looked over at Kairi. She held her nose. "Ewww, you stink, Sora."

"Kairi…" I hissed, giving her a murderous look. She blinked innocently and shrugged her shoulders.

"If I remember correctly… you didn't specifically tell me what or who I was supposed to be watching out for," Kairi said with a smile. She wrinkled her nose. "Did I mention that you _really_ stink?"

Riku smirked. "Sora, a garbage can? Could you be any less original?" I shuddered as he leaned dangerously close and inhaled before stepping back and copying Kairi's action. "Damn, you _do_ stink. Maybe you should go to the nurse and take care of that problem…"

"I wouldn't need to hide in garbage cans," I informed them both, climbing out of it and dusting the banana peel off my butt. "If _certain_ people hadn't decided it would be fun to buy me for a week, even though those _certain_ people know that I can't stand them."

Riku pointed in Kairi's direction. "I was only _thinking_ about buying you. She's the one who—"

"—who's about to be late for class if she doesn't hurry!" Kairi interrupted quickly with a high pitched laugh. "Try not to have too much fun while I'm gone!" She raced off down the hallway and disappeared around the corner.

I gave Riku a suspicious look.

"What?" he asked, smiling placidly.

"What exactly are you planning to do with me?" I folded my arms and gave him an even more suspicious look. "No sex."

"Hey, I do not think about sex all the time," Riku argued, looking mildly insulted. "Just when you're around."

Wow, his pick-up lines really sucked. I rolled my eyes and glanced around. The hallways were empty. I looked back at him. "You're going to be late for class," I informed him flatly.

"So are you."

"I have to go to the nurse, remember? Because, as you and Kairi were tactful enough to tell me, I _stink_." I blinked as Riku suddenly began walking towards me until he had me backed up against the wall.

He was close. Way too close. I swallowed.

"Come by my house after school today," he said in a low voice, locking eyes with me. "I'll put you to good use."

His breath was tickling my face. I took a deep breath and quickly pushed him away, my face flaming as I glared at him. "You could have told me that from over there," I said once I was sure my voice wouldn't shake.

"I could have," Riku conceded in amusement. "But it's more fun the way I do it."

I glared at him again and turned around, heading towards the nurse's office and cursing myself mentally. I really shouldn't have let Riku get to me like that! Sometimes… I really couldn't help it, though. He was _Riku_. _The_ Riku.

Of course, he added 'the' to the front of his name himself, but it fit. He was the son of one of the most influential men in town, he was a smooth-talker, he was well respected and well-loved, he was…

Well, he _used_ to be the guy I was in love with. 'Used to' being the objective phrase there. I'd gotten over that long ago.

But, apparently, not well enough.

"Are you going to the carnival?"

I jumped as I realized that Riku had never stopped following me, calming down and glaring at him again. Couldn't he take a hint? "What?"

"The carnival? You know, the After Auction Carnival? And then we get the rest of the week off to… enjoy each other's company," he reminded me, amused beyond belief. I sighed. I'd never very much paid attention to these things before. I never went to the carnival because it was for the auctioned and their respective owners only and I only acknowledged the vacation as, well, a vacation.

And there was no way in hell I was spending my vacation with Riku of all people.

"I don't really have a choice, do I?" I muttered, answering his question. "I've never been to one before anyway. I don't believe in modern day slavery. It's brutal, don't you think?" I gave him a hopeful look.

Riku chuckled. "True. Just think of yourself as an unwilling volunteer then."

I opened my mouth to retort when a door unlocked behind me and Nurse Tohru peered at us. I frowned as she instantly covered her nose.

"Ugh," she said with a groan. "One of you has really bad B.O."

"That would be him," Riku pointed in my direction. "He thought it would be fun to play around in a garbage can during homeroom."

"That was smart," Nurse Tohru stated with a roll of her eyes. She grabbed me by the ear and started dragging me down the hallway towards the boys' locker room. "I'm sure with an hour's worth of scrubbing, we can get that smell off you."

Riku waved after us. "Bye, Sora! See you in gym!" I watched him turn and walk off whistling and I tried to ignore the growing pain by my ear from where the nurse was holding it. I sighed again.

Damn, I hated him.

* * *

_"There are two words I hate: Don't and stop. Unless you use them together." **— Unknown** _

_.Riku._

"Riku, does this screaming fan base belong to you?"

I raised an innocent eyebrow and turned to face Coach Namura as well as the twenty-five girls standing behind him and cheering my name. Now, this was through no fault of my own since I didn't tell them to skip class and come down to the football field to watch me during gym.

They did that all on their own.

"No…" I said angelically. "But I can see how you would make that mistake considering their great fashion sense." I gestured towards the t-shirts they were wearing – decorated with my face.

Coach Namura rolled his eyes. "Get rid of them!"

"Fine, fine," I sighed and turned to the girls, smirking as they started screaming again. "Ladies, as much as I appreciate the support, I really think you should all go to class. Education is important because without it, you can't get a good job. Without a good job, you can't get enough money for a Ferrari. Without a Ferrari, I can't date you."

"Oh my gosh, you're so right, Riku!" one of them squealed, batting her eyelashes at me. Well, of _course_ I was right. When wasn't I right?

I flashed them another smile, glancing to my right as Sora came jogging up to the field in his gym uniform. He glared at me as he passed, which only served to amuse me further. "Later, ladies. Hurry up and get to class so they can finally pass your ass!"

I waited for them all to leave before heading over to join the rest of my class. Sora was standing over by Selphie, avoiding my eyes.

"As you all know," Coach stated. "This is our last class for an entire week. I decided, to keep you from getting flabby in your time off, we're going to play a nice, rousing game of hands-on football. Any objections? Too bad!"

I smirked. Hands-on with Sora in the class? No problem.

"Riku, you're captain of the red team. Selphie, you're captain of the blue team. Grab your pinnies, choose your teams, and get ready to tackle. Blue team on offense, red team on defense!"

I picked up the box of red pinnies and glanced around at the guys. "I get Leon, Tidus, Cloud, Haru, Tomoyo, Haruko, and Kya. You get everybody else, Selphie. Sound good?"

"We're gonna beat your ass and wipe the field with it!" Selphie agreed, pumping her first in the air. She handed out her pinnies while I did the same, smirking. No doubt Sora was trying to figure out why I didn't pick him.

He'd know soon enough.

"Alright, I want you three in defense, you four in offense, and I'll take quarterback." I said as soon as everyone was ready. I tied up my sneakers as they all got into position, blinking when an extra pair of feet appeared in my line of vision. I looked up and smirked. "Hello, Sora."

"What're you up to now?" Sora asked, folding his arms and staring at me. I stood up and blinked.

"What are you talking about? I'm going to play football," I answered in my most innocent voice, smiling. "Ever think you might just be paranoid?"

"You know what I mean, you ass!"

I could tell he was close to sulking, but I merely winked. "You'll see."

Ignoring his protests, I jogged back over to my team, taking up my position and waiting for Selphie to start.

She ran towards the ball and gave it a powerful kick, sending it sailing. I followed it with my eyes, noting that it was heading towards Sora, and smirked. Perfect.

I took off running towards the unsuspecting brunette, whose attention was on not getting hit with the ball. As soon as the ball landed in his hands, I jumped him, sending us both falling to the ground. I smirked down at him, our breaths mingling from the close proximity.

"Hi," I said sweetly, watching in interest as his face turned a bright red color. "I think I like football, don't you?"

"_Dammit_, get off me," he cried, squirming under me. "I dropped the ball already and people are staring!" He was obviously trying to hide the blush on his face since he wouldn't meet my eyes. I smirked again.

"I don't think you really want me to get off. I think you want me to ravage you right here, right now. You're just trying to hide it – unsuccessfully." I leaned down even further, my lips brushing against his with every word I said. "Am I right?"

"No!" Sora reached up and shoved me off of him, getting up off the ground. I noticed him trying to regulate his breathing and smiled as I got up as well. If he wanted to be stubborn, he could be stubborn, but there was no way he could resist me for long.

Selphie had her hand on her hip as she watched us, holding the ball with her other hand. "Are you guys done? You made my teammates upset."

"Tell them I don't do threesomes," I said placidly, ducking as she threw the football at my head. Sora ran over to Selphie, his face bright red again, and I headed back over to my team. "Sorry about that. I was… preoccupied."

"I'll bet you were," Tidus' amused voice chimed in. I noticed him watching Selphie as she leaned close to Sora to tell him something and raised an eyebrow.

"You seem to be pretty preoccupied right now, Mihada. When do you plan on asking her out?" I asked as I brushed my hair out of my face. Tidus' crush on Selphie was something to be made fun of in the locker rooms. They were obviously crazy about each other, but Selphie was playing clueless and Tidus refused to ask her out.

"About the same time Sora finally agrees to go out with you," he shot back, raising an eyebrow.

I grinned. "So, by the end of the week then?"

Tidus rolled his eyes at me and went to go join the rest of the guys back on the field. Oh yeah, if things went my way, Sora would definitely be mine by the end of the week.

If not, I still had a year and a half until graduation. Right?

* * *

_"Rule #1: I'm never wrong. Ruler #2: When in doubt, refer to Rule #1." **– Anonymous**_

_.Sora._

I closed my locker door and then rested my head against it, not really looking forward to this whole carnival thing. First off, I hate school carnivals. The only part about them I liked was when your most hated teacher got inside the dunking booth and you got to watch them drop into a pool of water over and over.

Second off, I hated my 'date', so to speak.

I was about to start banging my head against the locker wall when a hand rested on my shoulder and turned me around, pinning me against the lockers. Riku rested his head against the crook of my neck, inhaling.

"There's that familiar Sora scent," he said as he pulled away, smirking. I growled under my breath as I felt my face heat up. Why did he have to keep on doing this to me!

"Get off me, Riku! I'm your slave, not your scratch and sniff sticker," I informed him, pouting slightly. I saw his eyes gleam and held up a hand. "Scratch me in any way, shape, or form and I'll… uh…" I sighed. "…cry."

Riku smirked and stepped back, raising an eyebrow at me. "So, are you ready to get going? The carnival awaits us."

I turned back to my locker. "I don't suppose there's any way I can convince you not to take me to this thing."

"Nope."

"Even if I started having palpitations?"

"Even if you started having palpitations."

"Even if I had a heart attack and _died_, foaming at the mouth?"

"Even if you had a heart attack and died, foaming at the mouth."

"Your lack of concern for my personal safety makes me feel so loved," I said flatly, turning back to face Riku and running my fingers through my hair. "Alright, Master, let's go."

"Oh," Riku grinned. "Nice nickname. Kinky."

I frowned, extremely disturbed, and started walking towards the back of the school whether or not Riku was following and trying to keep any and all possible implications of that statement out of my mind. I heard footsteps behind me, but ignored them until Riku fell into step next to me.

I glanced at him. "Did you know that you annoy me so much?"

"I'm aware," Riku said lightly.

"And this doesn't bother you a bit?" I continued, pausing before the exit.

Riku shrugged. "Just a little. Come on." He pushed open the door and let me go out, stepping out behind me.

I stopped and stared. The carnival covered the entire field behind the school. There were millions of booths all over the place and slides and swings and I could vaguely make out a giant blow up version of the sinking Titanic all the way in the back.

The scent of food drifted to my nose and I sniffed, then sighed in contentment. "Hungry…"

Riku chuckled and took my hand, but I was too distracted by the food to think of pulling my hand away. "Alright, I'll buy you a funnel cake."

I grinned and darted off towards the funnel cake booth, calling over my shoulder for Riku to hurry up. I ordered myself a plate, glancing back at Riku as I ate some. He was staring directly at me with a distant look on his face.

I blushed. He was always looking at me like that. He'd been looking at me like that for months. It made me wonder why the sudden interest in me.

I couldn't remember him ever having an interest in me before. Back when I used to like him (also referred to as My Stupid Year), he never even gave me a second glance. He even hit me in the head with a volleyball once.

Not on purpose, of course, but _still_.

"Riku! I'm hungry! Hurry up!" I shouted from the booth, half way through eating a cake loaded with powdered sugar. I watched Riku shake his head and walk over, smiling.

"You're going to get high off that," he reprimanded in an oddly affectionate tone. I stuck my tongue out him, blinking when he stared at me. Riku smirked. "You've got some sugar right there," he said, pointing.

I swiped for it and looked at him, but he shook his head to tell me that I'd missed it. In his goodness, he leaned over to get it for me – using his tongue instead of his hands. I blushed and dropped my funnel cake, giving Riku a mortified look. "Y-you…"

"Want me to buy you another one?" Riku asked, pointing to the one I'd dropped. I gulped and nodded, not trusting myself to say anything else. Riku ordered another plate while I rubbed my cheek and stared out at the carnival.

My face felt like it was on _fire_

A second funnel cake entered my line of view, covered in enough powdered sugar to keep me happy. I hesitantly took it from Riku's grasp, giving him a puzzled look. Riku was a really hard guy to figure out. I'd known him since my freshman year and I still didn't get him.

Of course, we never really talked much besides 'hi'. Well, until now.

I could still remember coming into Kaibara in my freshman year and the first thing I saw was this… this… silver haired sex god sitting at a table and chatting it up with his friends, surrounded by people. How could I help liking him right away?

Then I found out he was an ass. It figures.

"Thanks," I said after my long moment of silence, starting to eat.

Riku blinked. "Alright, what did I do now?" he asked in amusement, raising an eyebrow at me. "Did I put too much sugar on?"

"No," I answered with a shake of my head. "Let's go over the games booth. I want to win something for Kairi."

I saw Riku frown, but ignored it as I handed him the unfinished funnel cake and headed in the direction of the games. I stopped in front of a game where you had to throw some rings over some bottles. It looked fairly easy.

"I want to try this," I announced, looking back at Riku. I blinked to see that he was sulking. "…Is something wrong, Riku?"

He looked up at me and shook his head. "I'm fine. Go on and win your prize for Kairi. I'm heading over to the dunking booth."

I smirked. "Who's over there?"

"Principal Iwamoto. He's been dunked about 95 times today and I want to take a shot," Riku answered as he headed towards the booth. I abandoned the game to follow him. There was no way I was missing this!

I could win Kairi a prize later.

* * *

_"Never go to bed mad. Stay up and fight." **- Phyllis Diller**_

_.Riku._

I pushed open the door to my mansion, letting Sora walk in ahead of me with the giant teddy bear he was holding in his hands. After we'd gone to the dunking booth and made Iwamoto eat water seventeen times in a row, he'd gone back to the games booth and blown all his money until he'd won a giant teddy bear for _Kairi_.

Which once again led me to wonder if they were really friends as they claimed or if there was something else going on, but I didn't want to ask. Every time I even considered it, I got an odd feeling in my stomach.

It was something that _couldn't_ be jealousy, but was real close to it.

"Wow…" Sora murmured, looking around. "Dude, your front hall is as big as my room."

"Impressive, I know, but that's not important. You've got work to do," I took the teddy bear from his arms, glad to get rid of him, and handed him a bottle of Windex. Sora looked at it, then at me in confusion.

"What's this for?" he asked, watching me take the teddy bear and stuff it in the coat closet.

I turned back to him and beamed. "You're going to clean my room."

Sora blinked.

"…You're kidding right?" he asked after a moment, frowning a bit. "Isn't that what you have maids for? Or a nanny? Or a janitor?"

"Well, yeah. But I want you to do it," I answered, taking him by the arm and heading up the stairs. My room was just on the second floor, all the way down the hall by the bathroom with the giant heart-shaped tub in it.

I pushed him inside, watching as he looked around at all the junk I kept on my floor. I never bothered to clean and I hated when the maids came in and did it for me because I could never find anything once they finished.

Sora looked back at me, scowling. "Bastard."

"I love you, too, now get to work," I watched him turn and look at the mess again while I walked over to the bed and flopped down on it, searching around under my mattress for the remote.

Sora bent over to grab a piece of paper, giving me a perfect view of his ass that I just couldn't pass up. I stopped and stared unabashedly until I realized he'd said something.

"You wanna grab that?"

"Gladly!" I said, getting up and reaching out to touch. Sora stood up straight before I could do so, rolling his eyes and glaring at me.

"I was talking about the waste basket, Riku. Pervert," he sighed in irritation and stomped over to it, then proceeded to blatantly ignore me.

Hmph. As if it was my fault my mind was permanently in the gutter.

Today's youths were very corrupted. Who was I to act as if I were better than them (even though I _was_ better than them in everything else).

"I seriously can't believe you're this much of a slob. My room is cleaner than yours," Sora spoke up after a few more minutes of pretending I didn't exist. I shrugged and sat down on the bed, watching him work.

"I hate cleaning. I'm too lazy for that kind of stuff. And I hate when other people clean when I'm not around because then I can't find all my stuff until my room gets messy again," I informed him, brushing my hair out of my face.

Sora tossed a pile of papers into the garbage and blinked. "Fascinating. You don't, by any chance, have food from 1960 under your bed?"

"Nope," I answered, searching for an finding the remote. "Not to my knowledge anyway."

Sora smiled a bit. "When I was ten, Kairi was cleaning my room for me and she found an egg salad sandwich from Kindergarten until my bed."

And there was the mention of Kairi again. I was starting to hate the girl and I didn't even know her.

Shrugging a bit, I gave him an objective glance. "Are you into her?"

"Who?" Sora asked, getting down on his knees to check under my bed. I laid on my stomach and raised an eyebrow.

"Kairi. You talk about her a lot."

"Well, duh. Because she's my best friend!" Sora said in a voice that clearly suggested that he thought I was stupid. "I couldn't look at her that way if I tried. If you've seen somebody naked and still don't think they're attractive, then it's time to give up."

I smirked a bit. "So… why don't you strip so I can see whether I should keep pursuing you or not."

"Why don't you shut up before I come up there and shove the broom down your throat?"

"…That's okay," I laughed and turned on the big screen TV, listening to Sora rummaging around under the bed and push the things he found out into the open for sorting. He didn't seem to be minding the job too much, which was fairly good since I hadn't been too sure what I was going to do with him.

Sex wasn't allowed by Auction rules. Although… we didn't have school for the next few days. How would they know?

While I mused on this, Sora came out from under my bed and looked at me. "You're weird," he told me bluntly.

I blinked. "…Thanks?"

"No, I mean… when you're out of your element – school – you're actually somewhat decent," he finished, moving away and grabbing a pile of my clothes. Figuring this was a compliment, I smiled.

"Thanks. And once you stop being defensive, you're actually adorable," I returned, laughing at the indignant look he shot me. It wasn't a lie. Sora really was adorable when he was relaxed and letting his guard down.

I guess that was part of the reason I found him so fascinating. Only a small part, though.

"Feel free to stop staring at me any time now." I blinked and focused to realize that Sora was standing in front of me with an amused look on his face, his hands on his hips. "See something you like?"

I smirked. "As a matter of fact I do. Maybe you should—"

"Riku? Son, what are you doing?"

I frowned, turning to look at my father who was standing in the doorway and staring at Sora. He blinked, then looked back at me, frowning as well. "Who's that?"

"Uh, Dad, this is Sora. Sora, meet my Dad," I muttered, whistling a bit. "Everybody say hi to everybody else."

"Hi, Mr. Masaki," Sora greeted, tossing my clothes into the laundry hamper and walking over to him. He held out a hand and smiled. "It's nice to meet you."

Dad shook Sora's hand, glaring at me. "What is he doing in your room? Alone? With no adult supervision?"

"Cleaning. And nothing else," I answered, scowling. "Unfortunately."

Dad let go of Sora's hand and walked over to me. "What do you mean by 'unfortunately'? What were you hoping for?"

"I want to pin him to the bed and fuck him till his eyes roll into the back of his head, Dad. Is this a problem for you?" I asked tersely, glaring up at him. "Because if it is, we can always hang out at Sora's house for the rest of the week."

"Very funny," Dad said in a tone that told me he didn't find that amusing in the least. He turned back to the puzzled looking Sora. "Maybe you should go home now. Riku can clean his own room."

"Uh… Okay…" Sora said hesitantly, his eyes flickering to mine in a questioning gaze. I looked away. Sora grabbed his bag. "Um, it was nice meeting you, sir…"

"At least he's polite. Which is more than I can say for you," Dad gave me another look, which I ignored in favor of staring at the television. I found it to be far more fascinating than the current situation. "LISTEN TO ME WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Were you saying something interesting?" I mocked, raising an eyebrow. It was obvious that dad was about to pop a blood vessel, but I really could care less. Maybe if he hadn't come in, I might have molested Sora five times by now.

"Er… bye Riku… I'll, um… see you tomorrow?" Sora called from the door, his bag slung over his shoulder. "Where'd you put my teddy bear?"

"You bought him a fucking bear? What is he, your boyfriend?"

Ignoring Dad yet again, I looked at Sora. "Coat closet. Right by the door. I'll come by your house tomorrow afternoon."

Sora nodded and headed out of the room, leaving me to face the big bad wolf all by myself.

* * *

_"I never made a mistake in my life; at least, never one that I couldn't explain away afterwards." – **Unknown**_

_.Sora._

I frowned thoughtfully as I made my way back to my house, wondering how Riku and his Dad were faring. I've never seen two people argue so bad, especially not father and son. Weren't they supposed to be going fishing together and playing football in the backyard or something?

They more seemed like they were going to try and murder each other in a fit of rage. I swear, I wasn't help to hiding any bodies.

I glanced back at Riku's house, barely making out two figures in Riku's bedroom window. I could also vaguely hear arguing. If they were yelling that loudly…

My mind moved on to less happier thoughts. Why were Riku and his Dad arguing? Did things like this happen every day at Riku's house? Had his father ever… beat him at all? And if so, why hadn't Riku said anything to anyone about it?

I winced a bit, hating that my thoughts were so focused on Riku. I couldn't help but be worried. I was an extremist with a vivid imagination, dammit! If you ever wanted the Worse Case Scenario, then I was your guy.

I pushed open the door to my house, surprised to find it empty. I must not have noticed that Mom's car was gone when I passed by the driveway. Shrugging it off, I dropped my bag and headed to the kitchen to make myself some food.

After a moment of debating with myself, I picked up the phone and called Riku's house. It rang twice before an exhausted voice answered, "Hello?"

I hesitated a moment. "Um, Riku?"

"Sora," Riku said, sounding considerably more cheerful. "Can't get enough of me, huh?"

"Get over yourself," I snapped, rolling my eyes. "So… how are things?"

"What things?"

I hesitated a bit before continuing. "With your Dad? He seemed kind of… mad…"

"Oh, if you're worried, don't worry. He's not like that all your time and he doesn't hate you," Riku told me dismissively. "You shouldn't trouble yourself with him. I don't."

I wanted to correct him and tell him that it was him I was worried about, but I knew that would go straight to his head. I wasn't quite sure which head it would go to, either. Sighing, I forced some cheerfulness to my voice. "Oh, thanks. It was really bothering me."

"Tch, Dad's an ass. Now, I gotta go. I don't think he was done yelling at me," Riku said with a sigh of his own. "I'll see you tomorrow. Later."

I listed to the dial tone for a few more minutes before I hung up the phone, hearing the front door open.

"Sora? Are you home?" Mom called from the hall. I walked out to meet her, strangling her in a tight hug like I usually did when she walked in. Mom laughed and tapped me on the head. "Let go, you goof. I've got groceries in the car I need your help with."

"Slave driver," I said affectionately, pushing any and all thoughts of Riku out of my head.

Mom smirked. "I'm not the slave driver. Isn't that your Riku Love Muffin?"

"If you call him that one more time, I'm going to write a book when I grow up," I threatened. "And dedicate a whole chapter to the psychological trauma you put me through when I was merely seventeen years old. Is this what you want?"

"I still say it's kinky," Mom shot back, opening the front door and pointing out to the car. "Now get to work. And make sure when you write that book, you add in that your mother was young and beautiful – and still is."

I rolled my eyes as I walked through the door towards the car. "Sure. Keep telling yourself that." Despite my best efforts to prevent it, my thoughts continuously returned to Riku.

_Dammit_, I thought. _He's good._

* * *

**End of Part II**


	3. Of Curiosity and Perfection

**Title:** Born To Be Wild

**Author:** Slashapalooza

**Disclaimer:** Once upon a time there was a little girl who didn't own Kingdom Hearts. She died from the depressiveness of it all and everybody came to her funeral and said 'That poor Slashy'. Then she was reincarnated and wrote this chapter.

**Author's Note:** I want a cookie. Give me a cookie. Sora wants a cookie, too. Don't you, Sora? Of course you do. Because cookies are the food of the gods, aren't they Sora? Will you sleep with Riku if I give you a cookie Sora? Riku, you're going to have to take your hands out of Sora's pants so he can answer me coherently. Sora, you're going to have to stop melting into a pile of mushy goo in order to get your cookie.

…

…Or you could… both ignore me and go to my bedroom. It's alright. I'll just… sleep out here. –lays down in a random reviewer's bed-

**Thanks To:**

Ice Dragon3, Swordstuff, xcrossfirex, Ame, Reina-183, Elly Uki, DevilsThrill, Tama-Kistune, Taylor, KyokiXKurama, silver shining tears1000, ChibiNekoSakura, oto wo dasanai utai-te, KHlover, Lady Samurai, Hakari03, Wolf Fangs, DClick, Insert Bad Cliche Here, kuramasgirl13, AirbenderSora, kalizuta, HEARTS-ALCHEMIST, Icewitch17, keigojin, Redaura, LiLi-Sama, PSYCH0tic, Dark-Saiyan-Angel, Nightmare Abyss, Jenni's Heart of Gold, lymerai, Riku's gurl, Legolas19, XxX Chains XxX, kmwsweetness, and Momochi Zabuza.

**Date Begun:** April 24, 2005

**Date Posted:** May 7, 2005

**Part III:** Of Curiosity and Perfection

_"Charlie Brown is the one person I identify with. C.B. is such a loser. He wasn't even the star of his own Halloween special." **— Chris Rock**_

_.Sora._

I had absolutely no intention of spending any more time with Riku than I had to.

I mean, come on. He **owned** me for an entire week. I wasn't exactly going to go racing into his arms in a gleeful rush to serve him. As if I would just show up at his house, in a French maid outfit, and say, 'Oh, Riku, is there anyway I can serve Your Royal Sex God-ness? Perhaps a massage or a bath… alone… just you and me… hint hint…'

Ha. He wished.

Although, I can't honestly say that I haven't thought about it before. I had. Riku and his constant sexual undertones did kind of plant a few images in my head that I'd rather not be thinking about.

Like, you know, being pinned under Riku in a bed while he experimented with different ways to make me scream.

Or being at school, by my locker, and then suddenly finding myself up against that locker with a mouth full of Riku lovin'.

Or… well… you get the point.

Anyway, if I were to seek him out instead of vice versa, no doubt these comments of his would become a prominent problem which would result in me either:

**a)** jumping him

**b)** murdering him, or

**c)** needing a very cold shower.

Which was why, instead of being at Riku's house and bowing to his every whim, I was currently at my house, curled up on the couch with a box of Fruit Loops and a TV set as my only company.

Mom had gone out somewhere again, leaving me to my own devices and trusting me not to burn down the house or **attempt** to burn down the house (ONE time! And I was **seven** at the time and didn't realize that table cloth was flammable).

So, being that it was, for the other poor souls of the world, a school day, I was tuned in to Nickelodeon, watching Dora the Explorer.

…What? It was an educational program! With a talking monkey! Who wears boots! You just can't beat the talking boot-wearing monkey, okay? They don't make good, talking animals as well as they used to. Not since Bugs Bunny and Tweety.

…WHAT!

I blinked when I heard the doorbell ring, then promptly ignored it. It could only be one of two people. If it was Kairi, she knew where the spare key was. If it was Riku, he could stand out there until winter came and he froze to death for all I cared. Then, in the winter, I could go outside and decorate him like Frosty the Snowman and sell tickets to come see.

That was easier than shoveling snow, anyway.

"Sora! I know you're in there! I can hear the TV! Wait… are you watching **Dora**!"

It was Riku, alright.

I frowned and called, "IT HAS VALID EDUCATIONAL AND ENTERTAINMENT VALUES!"

"Open the door!" Riku called back, apparently unwilling to argue with my level of intelligence. I bet he didn't know how to sing the entire chorus of 'We Did It', with a flawless Spanish accent, like I did! I bet he never memorized all the words to Boots' 'I Love My Boots' song, like I did!

That takes some true Dora dedication; something I had and he did not. Hff!

I turned the volume of the TV up louder and ate another handful of Fruit Loops.

**_"Come on! _****_Vámonos_****_ Everybody, let's go! Come on, let's get to it! I know that we can do it!"_**

I didn't hear anymore noise after that so I assumed Riku had gone away and left me in peace. I smirked a bit. Maybe if I could spend the whole week hiding out in my house, I could make it through this servanthood alive. I didn't really **need** to leave the house, really. Kairi could come visit me and, if Riku came by again, I could always just—

A hand clamped down on my shoulder, nearly causing me to jump out of my skin and shattering any illusions I had about hiding out and watching Dora all day.

"Sora…" Riku said as he turned me around on the couch to face him and leaning so that his face was unbearably close to mine. Was it me, or was it getting really hot in here? That couldn't just be me. "You were going to leave me out there all day, weren't you?"

I ignored the question, trying to get my heart to stop beating so fast. "…How did you get in here?"

"Growing up, I've had to pick a lot of locks," Riku answered, his eyes darkening in a way I found chilling, yet oddly attractive. Damn libido. "To get into places… to get out of places…" he blinked and shook his head, narrowing his eyes at me and moving his head even closer, if possible. "But that's not the point here! The point is, you were going to leave me out there **all** day, weren't you!"

I blinked as I remembered the question I'd wanted to ask him last night. "Riku…" I said as I took his hand off my shoulder and swallowed, trying not to think about how my heart was still beating fast, but for an entirely different reason. "Does your father… beat you?"

Riku stared at me, his expression guarded and utterly unreadable.

…Then broke out laughing.

"D-Does my… HAHAHA…Sora, how do you—" he roared in laughter again. "What kind of imagination—HAHAHAHA—do you h-have? HA!"

I stared at him, unable to believe that he'd actually found that funny. Then, I pouted indignantly. Exactly **what** was so amusing that he felt it appropriate to start laughing uncontrollably? Honestly, how rude.

And here I was being concerned about that asshole! I'd never make **that** mistake again.

"What's so funny?" I asked, frowning as I waited for him to stop laughing so hard. After five minutes passed and he was **still** laughing, I resorted to glaring at him.

Riku put a hand on the back of the couch to keep himself from falling over and shot me an amused look. "No, Sora, my father's never hit me once," he said plainly, snickering a bit.

How… vague. Not deterred, I tried again. "More than once then?"

"Nope."

"…Ever?"

"Never ever," Riku smirked. "I know you would greatly enjoy knowing that I was in agonizing pain, but, I'm sorry to report, nobody's ever hit me unprovoked. Now, if there is a reason, then, sure, I've been hit before. Like the time I told this one guy that he may as well be wearing pink for how obvious he made it that he was gay. He **pounded** me. And not in the good way."

I sighed, half-relieved that he wasn't being abused and half-disappointed that we couldn't have a serious discussion for five seconds.

"You're so immature, Riku," I said, brushing my hair out of my face.

Riku raised an eyebrow. "This coming from the boy who's eating Fruit Loops and watching **Dora**?"

"…Shut up," I muttered, turning back around to face the TV and sinking down in my seat as Riku plopped down next to me. I blinked. "What are you doing?"

"Sitting?" he answered as if it should be obvious.

"Don't you have small children to go light on fire or something!"

"Oh please. I only do that on the weekends," Riku said cheekily, a smirk curving his lips. He chuckled softly as I gave him a look that told him plainly that I wasn't amused by his antics. He raised an eyebrow. "What? Are you still hung up on that father thing? Do you **want** me to be an abused victim?"

"It'd add some depth to an otherwise extremely shallow character," I muttered under my breath, not caring if he heard me. Sighing, I grabbed my cereal box and headed to the kitchen to put it away.

He may be in my house, but I was **not** sharing my Fruit Loops. It'd be a cold day in hell when Sora Harada shared his Fruit Loops. A very cold day indeed! I was known to bite people if their hands even went in the general vicinity of my cereal.

Just ask Kairi. Or Mom.

Once I returned to the living room, I noticed that Riku was intently staring at the TV. Blues Clues was on. Riku was fascinated by an idiotic baby show like Blues Clues?

It was to my belief that they ruined the principles of the show by making Steve 'go to college' (the man was, like, 40 and just now going to college?) and replacing him with Joe, who was just Steve, but cuter (according to Kairi).

Overall, I lost any love I had for that show when Steve and his green triangles went bye bye in favor of Joe and his orange squares. Although, Periwinkle would always remain my favorite character.

"Now who's the baby show fan, hm?" I asked in amusement, grinning even more as he turned to look at me with a guilty expression on his face.

Riku sank down on the couch, obviously sulking. I bet he could never pull off my infamous pout. Very few could. "I can't help it. Blues Clues is the best baby show ever."

BLASPHEMY! I glared at him. "Nuh uh! Dora!"

"Nuh uh!" Riku imitated. "Blues Clues!"

"Dora!"

"Blues Clues!"

"Dora!"

"Blues Clues!"

"Dora!"

"This argument is extremely pointless," Riku said with a glare in my direction. "Blues Clues kicks the shit out of Dora any day, so you can just stop arguing now, Harada."

"Boots could take a banana and beat the crap out of Blue before that stupid non-talking dog could even bark, Mazaki!" I retorted. "So don't talk to me about your **stupid** show!"

Riku looked at me flatly. "I'm not going to lower myself to your level of stupidity just to prove that Blues Clues rocks. It was here first and it's **still** here, even with all this Dora propaganda."

I rolled my eyes and stared at him. "Was there a reason you just decided to drop by my house, or did you have a wet dream and need me to take care of that for you?"

"Well… no, but if you want to take care of it **anyway**," Riku said, dropping his voice a few octaves lower and raising his eyebrows at me suggestively. "I **really** wouldn't mind."

I stared at him.

Then, I smiled sweetly. "Yeah. Of **course**. Now… get the hell out of my house."

* * *

-

_"I really want to love somebody. I do. I just don't know if it's possible forever and ever." — **Jim Carrey**_

_.Riku._

Seeing as Sora had been kind enough to kick me out of his house, I had a lot of free time on my hands.

I was **not** about to let him shirk his slavery duties (although, I was still trying to think of what I could make him do for the rest of the afternoon), but I figured I could give him some time to cool down.

Besides, if I went back immediately, he'd just kick me out again. Maybe he'd even throw something heavy and breakable. Like the time at school where I'd happened to find him naked in the locker room and he'd tried to throw the bench before realizing it was bolted to the ground.

But, dude, what if it hadn't been? I could be dead by now. Honestly, the kid was a danger to my health. Death threats aside, let's consider this whole 'love' thing. I **don't** love. I don't. Seriously. I don't even really mean it when I tell my **parents** I love them.

Well. I mean it when I tell my mom, I guess. But Dad has grounded me way too many times for me to mean it and he needs some serious anger management.

So, I'll admit, it was quite a shock for me to be walking through the hallways on that fine fateful day when I happened to glance at the insignificant peons I went to school with and met with a pair of the most **amazing** blue eyes.

They were… perfection wrapped into that one lingering gaze. They spoke of the calm of the sea, the repose of the midnight sky, the cold of the winter, the painted summer skies. They were the purest shade of blue I could have ever imagined.

And then they narrowed and their owner said, "What the hell are you staring at? Do I look like your bitch?"

Sheesh. It was a wonder I fell in love with someone who had such vulgar language (although, his language is **nothing** compared to what I'm thinking half the time).

So, I can pretty much say that I should have left it at that, but I soon came to discover that the owner of those beautiful eyes – this 'Sora' – was in most of my classes. You can imagine the happy jig I did about then.

And then I started noticing the strangest things. That Sora's eyes glazed over whenever he was in class because he wasn't paying attention. Or that Sora was a righty, but tried to use his left hand when he was bored so that he could eventually become ambidextrous. Or that Sora had violent tendencies.

I also noticed things about myself. That my heart sped up whenever he walked into the room or that my breath hitched when he glanced up and saw me watching him and that I frequently had to take cold showers when I saw him eating lollipops.

The last thing was a normal occurrence for me. It was the first two things that worried me. Now, I'm not stupid and I don't go around lulling myself into a peaceful state of denial. It took me all of… five days to realize that I was in love with him.

And it's been taking me all of five months to get him to notice that. But, I think I'm getting a bit off track here.

Instead of being at Sora's house patronizing him about his insane love for Dora or begging to get into his pants, I was at the nearby diner half-way through a cup of coffee. Technically, I really should have gone back home since I'd told my dad I'd gone to Tidus' house to get a homework assignment, but I liked to spend as little time home as possible when Mom was out of town.

Dad got a little… testy without the presence of Mom to, um… well, I preferred not to think about the sounds coming from my parents' bedroom, thank you very much.

I stirred my coffee briefly and took a sip, setting it down on the table in time to notice that two girls had slid into the booth across from me. Two familiar girls. A redhead and a brunette.

I raised an eyebrow. "Kairi? Selphie? Don't you two have lives?"

"No," Selphie answered immediately, scrutinizing me carefully. I just stared back. She smirked. "So… Riku… sources tell me that you have the hots for our little Sora-poo," she said in an innocent tone. "That's adorable."

Kairi mimicked her look. "So adorable that we just had to make sure that you wouldn't do anything to cause harm to our little Sora. He's very vulnerable, you know. And he did used to have that crush on you…"

I blinked. This was news! "Wha—? Crush?"

Selphie and Kairi exchanged glances.

"Nothing," Kairi said quickly. I narrowed my eyes at her, but she ignored it and quickly moved on. "The point is that there's just one thing we need you to know: if you hurt Sora, then we will **castrate** you. The old-fashioned way."

"…Er… okay…" I said slowly, still hung up on this crush thing. When had Sora liked me? And why didn't I notice? Was it around the same time I started watching him in class? I could have been dating the object of my affections months ago! "I'll do my very best to make sure that the only time Sora is screaming my name in a fit of emotion is when he's writhing under me as I slowly slip my hand into his pa—"

"THANK YOU!" Selphie screamed, cutting me off and successfully bringing me out of my mental tirade about this 'crush' I didn't know about. "There's a LINE, Riku! And you just CROSSED it!"

I smirked, taking another sip of my coffee and trying not to continue thinking about Sora bucking and writhing beneath my skillful fingers. Then I'd have a problem that I **doubt** Sora would want to help me with. I supposed I could just pick some random member of my fan club to help, but that would be unethical.

And they're all kind of… really ugly… and scary… one of them had my name tattooed above her—

"Anyway, that's all we wanted to say," Kairi stated, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Shouldn't you be at Sora's house, torturing him with menial tasks right about now?"

"I should," I conceded, trying to look as innocent as possible, although my lips were twitching. "But he kind of… kicked me out. Because I said Blues Clues was better than Dora."

Kairi looked unconvinced.

"…And I may have asked him to participate in sexual activities…" I continued, ignoring the shocked gasp from Selphie and the unsurprised look Kairi shot me. "But I wasn't **serious**. It's not **my** fault Sora is so high strung. He really needs to take a few moments to breathe, relax, and work on his sexual prowess."

Selphie raised a curious eyebrow. "Exactly what did you ask him to do—"

"**Unimportant**, Selphie," Kairi cut in, giving Selphie a warning look. I blinked as I looked between them. They were doing one of those silent girl talks mostly made up of brain waves and eye widening.

You know, like when you're on a double date and your dates start staring at each other and making faces for so long that you wonder if they're either constipated or decided to go date each other and then they suddenly both excuse themselves to go to the bathroom and talk about you and the huge chunk of broccoli stuck in your teeth?

I have learned to fear these silent talks. Especially when they happen between two girls who threatened to castrate me not even five minutes before.

What would I do without my, ahem, junk?

I finished my coffee and discreetly slipped out of the booth, managing to make it to the front door of the diner before I heard two shouts of my name from behind me.

After that, I ran out of there so fast, I would have made the Road Runner look slow.

* * *

-

_"See the happy moron - he doesn't give a damn. I wish I was a moron - by God! Perhaps I am!" — **Unknown**_

_.Sora._

Somehow, I wasn't the least bit surprised when I opened my door to go to the store, only to find Riku sitting on my doorstep. He glanced over his shoulder at me and smirked as I narrowed my eyes at him, my expression clearly wondering what the hell he was doing on my porch.

"You have very nice friends. Very protective," he said instead of explaining himself like a normal person would have done in that situation. Although, when had Riku ever been normal? "Selphie kind of scares me, though."

"Selphie scares everybody," I told him, leaning against the doorpost. I decided not to tell him about the time she'd stolen a bunch of footballs from the sports office of one of our rival schools and used them to have a grand bonfire on their front lawn. She'd nearly burned the school down, but they could never prove she'd done it.

I didn't want to creep him out any further. Selphie was one girl that you did **not** want to cross. If you liked living, that is.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Did you want something? I mean, other than to bend me to your every non-sexual whim?"

"Don't give me ideas," Riku stated, smirking as he turned back to look at the street. He didn't say anything for a few minutes and I began to wonder if he was sleeping with his eyes open, but then he finally whispered, "I wanted to know if you wanted to come to the beach with me. There are always less crowds the closer it gets to sunset."

"But I don't want to go to the beach, least of all with **you**," I returned sweetly, stepping out onto the porch and closing the door. I'd heard footsteps behind me and just **knew** Mom was hiding somewhere, trying to listen in on the conversation.

Just like she did with my e-mails, mail, and phone conversations.

Riku sighed, blowing his bangs out of his face. Then he beamed. "Okay, let me rephrase that. I'm ordering you to come to the beach with me, because I'm bored and I want to see you half-naked."

I gave him a flat look, but the wide smile on his face never changed. What was it with him and seeing me in compromising situations and skimpy clothes? Honestly, he was so resilient. It was kind of cute.

No! Bad, Sora! Don't start thinking about him like **that** again!

I shook my head with a frustrated groan, ignoring the questioning look Riku gave me and turning back to the house. "Give me ten minutes. I should be ready by then."

For a moment, Riku looked confused. Genius boy had probably forgotten his own orders. That didn't really surprise me, seeing as he had the memory span of a goldfish and a brain about as big as one. Then understanding dawned on him and he smiled.

"Right. I'll be out here," he said, blowing a lock of hair out of his eyes. Trying not to think about how amazing he looked sitting there in the waning sunlight or what a beautiful shade of aquamarine his eyes were, I walked back into the house and slammed the door.

Unsurprisingly, I came face to face with my mother.

"Going out?" Mom asked, a smirk spreading on her face. "With your precious Master? I didn't know you were into that sort of thing, Sora. Is there bondage involved?"

My face turned a bright shade of red. "NO! I **told** you, he bought me for the rest of the week in an… an… **evil** school function that was thought up by mean people! Mean, cruel, baby-eating people!"

Mom raised an eyebrow.

I blushed even more. "Shut up." I headed upstairs to my room, rummaging around my drawers and pulling out my Spongebob swimming trunks.

What?

Spongebob had educational values, too! For instance, I've learned that… er… oh! Sharing a rock with your best friend can be painful – especially when he has a nightmare about squashing spiders. See? Educational.

A quick look in my closet produced a bucket, shovel, towel, and a bag to put it all in. After changing so I was wearing the swimming trunks under my clothes, I headed back downstairs. Riku was still sitting on the front porch when I got back out there, except he was humming some song under his breath.

I closed the door behind me and raised an eyebrow as I walked down the stairs, heading towards the street. My curiosity got the best of me. "What're you humming?"

I glanced over my shoulder, only to see Riku's eyes fixated on my ass as he smirked and said, "Baby Got Back."

"You know what?" I said, glaring. "Let's play a game. It's called 'How Long Can We Keep Sexual Innuendos Out Of The Conversation'. Ready? Go!"

Riku blinked at me.

So far, so good.

"So. Sora," he said a few seconds later. "How about, when we get to the beach, I take you right there on the sand?"

I blinked. "Take me? Take me where?"

"Wow," Riku breathed in a mix of amazement and amusement. "You're really innocent. It's so cute!" His hand was reaching out to ruffle my hair, so I gave him the coldest look I could muster.

"Touch me and I swear I'll rip off your arm and beat you with the wet end," I threatened, trying to look as frightening as possible.

But considering the fact that Riku was **laughing**, I don't think that worked very well.

I huffed and turned on my heel, heading towards the beach. It didn't take us very long to get there since I lived very close to the beach and all. Riku was right; there was nobody there this close to night time. Only a few misplaced couples and they were all making out anyway.

I stripped off my shirt and shorts and laid out my towel, glancing at Riku as I noticed that he hadn't brought anything. "Where's your stuff?"

"What stuff?" he asked, tilting his head to the side with an amused look on his face.

"You know. Shovel? Towel? Bucket? Swimming trunks?" I began dreading the answer the instant I saw that familiar smirk spread on his face.

"Oh," Riku said in an overly casual voice. "I was going to go skinny dipping instead."

I stared at him.

"What? It's been done. I've certainly done it before," he continued, the smirk back on his face. "Don't you want to try it? I'll try not to stare too much, although, it would be hard – no pun intended."

"I… am going to pretend you never said that," I murmured, shaking my head and brushing my fingers through my hair. I grabbed my pail and shovel and ran over to the sand that was right by the water. That was the best kind of sand. The rest was either too wet or too dry.

I shoveled the sand into the bucket. I could feel Riku's eyes on me, but I was obviously ignoring him in favor of my precious castle building. I'd already decided on building a fort. I could call it…

**T**he **F**earsome **H**ell **O**f **R**iku **K**ind. FHORK! I chuckled evilly under my breath as I hummed the theme to mission impossible.

* * *

-

_"I don't recall the so-called devilish things I do. But there are considerable amounts." -** John Travolta**_

_.Riku._

Okay. There **had** to be some law against somebody looking so incredibly sexy while building a sand castle.

Although, I had to admit, he was doing a really good job at it. He must have been a pro or something. Was that what the non-rich did in their spare time? Or was that just Sora?

What with the way he was chuckling and humming action music, I would say that it was just him. Only he could look so deliciously molestable while doing something as simple as building a sandcastle.

Or, you know, breathing.

I was sitting on his towel, watching the sunset. I may not look it, but I was an incredibly sappy romantic. Spouting random bouts of poetry, showering my lovers in lavish gifts, the whole nine yards.

It was my deepest darkest secret, and also extremely pathetic.

The whole reason I knew that nobody would hang at the beach at sunset was because I'd spent most of my time at the beach at sunset.

Duh.

Of course, Sora was far too slow to figure that out, which was why I'd chosen him to take with me to the beach and share this time with. That and I got to see him half-naked, of course. And, boy, was I loving it.

"Sora, what are you building?" I asked in amusement as he hopped to his feet and started doing some kind of tribal dance around the exquisitely constructed sand castle.

He smirked at me. "I built… a fort," he said dramatically. "And do you want to know the name of this fort that I built so carefully?"

"Um… The Fort?" I guessed, raising an eyebrow. He pouted.

"I'm not **that** unoriginal!" His pout remained for a few minutes more before he was back to smirking again. "It's called the Fearsome Hell of Riku Kind, aka FHORK!"

I smiled sweetly, getting up and walking over to him. I felt like making him do that cute flustered thing again. Without warning, I leaned down so that our faces were mere inches apart. Predictably, he blushed and averted his eyes.

"So," I whispered in a sultry voice. "You named it after me, huh? Is that a subtle hint that you want to be ravished?"

"N-no…" Sora whimpered, stumbling backwards. I watched as he tripped over his own fort and fell into the water. I broke out laughing as he emerged from the water, looking very much like a wet dog.

It was so… cute.

He glared at me, spitting water out of his mouth. "Riku! This water's **cold**!"

"Aww," I cooed, hands behind my back. "Do you want me to warm you up? That could easily be arranged. Just lay down on the towel and spread your le—"

"Bastard!" Sora cried, standing up and storming over to me. I snickered lightly, watching him angrily wipe his wet hair out of his face and glare at me. Suddenly, he smirked.

It was really creepy. Like if Freddy Kruger, Chuckie, and Scream all combined into one killer and went on a rampage.

He stepped closer, his hands behind his back, practically purring, "Riku. I'm cold. Maybe you **should** warm me up."

Refusing to let him get to me, I smirked right back and opened my arms. "Well, come here then. I'm sure I can think of one or two ways that we can share some body heat."

Sora continued smirking and stepped forward so that he was pressed right up against me. Carefully, he wrapped his arms around my neck. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Sora, are you feeling okay?" I asked. Then, I decided I didn't care and wrapped my arms around his waist. Hey, who knew when I would get this opportunity again? I leaned down, brushing my lips against his forehead.

Sora didn't push me away. Instead, he opted for looking like the cat that got his canary. "What's this? The big bad Riku won't go past forehead-kisses? Let me show you how it's done." He leaned up and kissed me, hard.

I blinked. Well. That was unexpected.

But definitely not unwanted.

I pulled him closer, deepening the kiss. I heard Sora groan and took the opportunity to slide my tongue into his mouth to explore.

"R-Riku!" He shivered, holding on to me tighter as I moved down to nip and suck lightly at his throat.

I smirked, raising an innocent eyebrow. "Hmm?"

"Surprise!"

Before I knew what was happening, I was suddenly doused in frigid cold water which was more than enough to not only dampen the urge to jump Sora, but also dampen my clothes. My eyes narrowed at the laughing boy in front of me.

"You—!"

"Me!" he answered, laughing still. He wrinkled his nose and imitated me. "Aww. Do you want me to warm you up? That could easily be arranged." He broke out laughing again, covering his mouth to stifle his snickers.

I glared at him through my dripping wet bangs. "Harada. You. Are. Dead."

Sora laughed even more, turning and taking off towards the water. I sprinted after him, tackling him into the sand and flipping him onto his back. He **still** hadn't stopped laughing.

"That was a low blow," I said with a glare. However, this one had less feeling behind it. I let a few chuckles go as well, examining him. He was absolutely adorable with his hair all wet and his eyes lit up in amusement like that.

Of course, he was adorable any other time of the day, but I think I preferred him happy more than anything else. Or angry.

He looked **extremely** sexy when he was angry. With his cheeks all flushed and his eyes narrowed and that cute scowl on his face and…

I didn't realize that I was staring until Sora snapped his fingers in front of my face and asked, "Hello? Earth to Riku? Are you alive in there?"

I chuckled. "It'd be extremely cruel for me to die when I have you pinned in such a compromising position. Fate can't be **that** much of a bitch."

Sora, however, was ignoring me. He lifted his head off the ground slightly, then leaned it back down and sighed. "I've got sand in my hair."

"Hey," I began, thinking briefly before an idea flashed in my mind. "How about I wash it for you? We can go to my family's beach house. It's closer than your house or mine."

Sora blinked. "You have a beach house?"

"Well. Yes," I stated simply. We'd had that beach house for years, but I'd never had a reason to use it before. I thought this was a good reason. Sora. Me. Alone. In a place where there was a bed.

I didn't see any problem with that. Beds were fun! Being in beds was even more fun! And being in beds with other people was the most fun in the world!

I was planning to teach Sora this lesson eventually. Preferably before I became impotent (heaven forbid).

"Oh. I see," he said, shifting again. I really wished he would stop doing that considering one of his legs was between mine and every time he moved he got closer and closer to a certain problem I was having.

Seeing him pinned under me wasn't helping either.

"Do you want to go or not?" I asked, keeping my focus on the conversation and my breathing even. Sora stared past me at the sky, then nodded.

"Okay, I—" he stopped, blinking. Then his face turned a very red color. "Um… Riku… you're kind of, um, pressing into my leg…"

"Actually," I corrected, unfazed. "Your leg is pressing into me."

He closed his eyes and muttered incoherently before speaking again, "C-could you get off of me then?"

I did as I was told, sitting down on the sand and pulling him up next to me. His face was still bright red. Ignoring that, I looked at the sky and smiled as I saw that we hadn't missed the sunset yet. The sun was just sinking down beyond the horizon, making the sky looking a beautiful orange and yellow color.

It was beautiful. If I had any artistic talent whatsoever, I would paint it.

"Wow," Sora whispered, his eyes wide. "That's the most amazing thing I've ever seen…"

"Not too many people take the time to actually sit down and watch a sunset. It's the second most amazing thing I've ever seen," I said, just as quietly. My eyes didn't leave the sky, although I could tell that Sora was looking at me.

"Yeah? What's the first most amazing thing?" He asked, almost as if he were afraid to know.

I smiled, looking over at him. "You."

Sora's face turned bright red once again and he choked on air, getting to his feet and looking away. "L-let's go back to your beach house!" he said quickly, looking at anything but me. "I'm really cold."

I chuckled softly, but nodded, getting up as well and smiling at him. "At least you have dry clothes. Thanks to **someone**, I have to go as is."

"You're the one who made me go stumbling into the water!" Sora quickly protested, a pout forming on his face as we walked back to the towel.

"You're the one who kissed me!" I shot back, raising an eyebrow as Sora's face changed color for the third time that evening. I smirked. "But don't worry. I quite enjoyed that."

"I'll bet you did," Sora murmured, gathering up his things and avoiding my eyes. "So, which way to this beach house of yours?"

I grinned. He was so damn cute! "This way, your highness," I said dramatically, starting to walk along the shoreline and gesturing for him to follow me. "Your palace awaits."

Sora was silent behind me, probably lost in his own thoughts. All I could think about, however, was me, him, and that bed.

* * *

-

**End of Part ****III**


	4. Of Conversations and Sneak Attacks

**Title:** Born To Be Wild

**Author:** Slashapalooza

**Disclaimer:** PS2. My heart is aching.

**Author's Note:** I'm writing again, I'm writing again! It's time for updates! I love updates! Updates make me smile! And… yay! Um, let's see. Hope everybody's having a nice summer, hope you like this chapter, and blah blah blah. Enjoy!

**AN**** Continued:** I bet you all were thinking I'd abandoned you, huh? Well, repent sinners! After this Separate Lives needs an update and then Love On A Rotten Day and I gotta sneak Speeding Into The Horizon in there somewhere… My best friend's birthday party is tomorrow! Party over here! Woop woop!

**Thanks To:**

punkergirl-Aira, Froggy2589, keito-kyokun, neji, Gina, VainFirechild-EverSoVain, DClick, Suicide isn't always easy, Egnima, Muchacha, marikandcloe, UTHorns600, lunasun72, Is In Sirius Denial, Moenokori, Zap Cannon, MafiaNerd-formerly jadestar123, cRoZx aNgeL, Riku's-Kitsune-Mate, BlackDragon1126, Lindsey, KaKai-Sama, fadingbutterfly, RuN-Fr0m-h3r3, Shiakuu Hitome, WhiteLightning, coalman, RikuxSora, animekittynyan, tenshisuki, Kitsune, Kawaii Neko-jin Lover, Ferenatical, CakesofCheese, Garnet-Crystals, Kikei, The Chaotic Ones, PSYCH0tic, xcrossfirex, Elly Yuki, starryeyes, Hatsuharu, DownRighT-eviL, ToysofLove, KHlover, Lain od the Weird, Sunshine Pie, FREAKnLOSER, Rinoki Rio, Lady Samurai, Tama-Kitsune, urufu-misora, Griever Weapon, emeraldwolf, Kanarah K, Swordstuff, LiLi-Sama, Dreams raven, sexysora, MusigMistress, thekatgrl, Jenni Kunoichi, La, IceDragon3, XxX Chains XxX, kmwseetness, kuramasgirl13, Riku's gurl, greyspark, KittyBlue, Momochi Zabusa, kihmi, telynaayuri, taylor, Ashley W., and... anybody else I'm missing.

**Date Begun:** July 14, 2005

**Date Posted:**July 22, 2005

**Part IV:** Of Conversations and Sneak Attacks

_"Each of us wages a private battle each day between the grand fantasies we have for ourselves and what actually happens." — **Cathy Guisewite**_

_.Sora._

Left foot. Right foot. Left foot. Right foot. Left foot. Riku's ass. No! Eyes back on feet, now, Harada! Right foot. Left…

"Sora?"

I looked up from my feet to realize that Riku had stopped walking and was now staring at me in amusement. I glared defiantly. "What?"

"Well, you've been standing there staring at your feet for a whole five minutes and we arrived a while ago," Riku said innocently. "I'm all for staring out here, but you might get sick."

I continued glaring at him, even as my cheeks flushed in embarrassment. Riku just chuckled and patted my head, walking up the stairs and into the beach house. Note to self: Practice glare.

I hesitated. Who knew what could be waiting for me inside that house? There was already a dangerous individual in there already. One who probably had the wrong idea already from that stupid kiss on the beach.

And, okay, maybe I had enjoyed it a little bit, but it was only to distract him. That was the only reason. Really.

And, okay, I'll admit that Riku was a really, really good kisser – definitely not all talk. And, okay, he could be sweet, if not corny, at times. But that didn't mean I liked him or anything. It just meant I didn't hate him with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns.

Now I just hated him with a fiery burning passion. That was a step up.

"Sora, are you going to stand out there all evening or do you want to come inside and warm up?"

Riku's words reminded me that I was freezing. I quickly ran up the stairs, into the beach house, and crashed into him. Instantly, his arms were around my waist and his hands were on my… ass.

Okay, the white hot intensity was back.

"Riku. Get. Off. Me." I said through gritted teeth, sinking my nails into his skin. He winced and took a step back.

"Sheesh, wild thing. I was just keeping you from injuring yourself," he said in a fake hurt voice.

"MY ASS CAN PROTECT ITSELF! IT'S GOT LOTS OF CUSHIONY FAT!"

Both of us stared, wide-eyed, unable to believe I'd just said that. My cheeks heated up in mortification again and I stared at the ground. "Where's the bedroom? I want to change out of these clothes?"

Riku made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a chuckle hidden in a cough before heading down a hallway I hadn't noticed before. At the end of the hallway was a door, which he pushed open to reveal a spotless bedroom.

"You can change in here. There are some of my clothes in that dresser over there," Riku explained, leaning against the doorpost.

I stared at him. "This is the part where you leave."

"Oh. Right," he said, looking way too amused to be thinking clean thoughts. "I'll be in the living room, then."

"You _better_ be," I threatened, waving my fist with emphasis. "Or I'll… I'll _kick_ you!"

Riku's face turned serious. "I'm terrified."

"…You're mocking me, aren't you?"

"Yes. Yes I am."

I slammed the door shut and rolled my eyes. Bastard.

I waited until I heard Riku's footsteps fade away before walking over to the dresser and opening it up, pulling out a t-shirt that was obviously too big for me. Stupid Riku and his stupid muscular physique.

I took off my wet shirt and pulled Riku's shirt over my head anyway then paused, surprised. It smelled like him. Like spices and ocean and… and it was just a stupid shirt. Nothing to go crazy over.

I kicked off my wet pants and dug around the drawer until I found some beach shorts. Figuring they were good enough, I put them on and pulled the drawstring tight enough to keep it from falling off my hips.

I picked up my wet clothes and headed back down the hall. Riku wasn't in the living room like he said he would be, but I spotted a flash of silver hair from the kitchen and headed that way.

"Where should I put these?" I asked, gesturing towards the clothes in my hands. Riku had somehow managed to change already and was now wearing a black muscle shirt and jeans.

He turned to look at me briefly, then turned fully for a closer look, a warm smile spreading on his face. It was making me uncomfortable.

"You look incredibly sexy in my clothes," Riku said, taking a kettle off the fire and pouring it into two cups on the counter. "I'm making us some tea to keep us warm. You can put those in the washing machine. It's right next to the bedroom."

I nodded, blushing for some odd reason. Riku smiled again, walking over and ruffling my already messy hair. "You're adorable."

He started to lean forward. Both afraid of and excited about what was about to happen, I took a step back and scurried out of the room.

* * *

_"Lead me not into temptation. I can find the way myself." —** Unknown**_

_.Riku._

I watched Sora run off, trying not to be too disappointed. The poor boy wasn't to blame here. Obviously, he wasn't used to intimate relationships with other people. Especially not people who were _very_ used to intimate relationships with every cute human available.

I shook my head and went back to making the tea, putting the tea bags into the cup and adding a little bit of sugar to each.

So, Sora was obviously terrified of me invading his personal space. I could work around that. But there was no way I was giving up. I mean, the kiss on the beach was evidence enough.

The boy was an awesome, albeit inexperienced, kisser. And I was addicted to that taste.

I put the tea onto a tray and headed out to the living room, setting the tray on the table for Sora when he got back. As an afterthought, I went back to the kitchen and made a few sandwiches before settling on the couch.

Sora returned a few minutes later, looking sheepish. "Sorry. I, um, wanted to get my clothes dry before they, um, started to smell."

"That and you're afraid of me," I said calmly. "I'm not going to do anything to you, you know."

"I-I know that."

But it was obvious he didn't. I rolled my eyes and pointed at the other end of the couch. "You can sit over there if you're so afraid I'll molest you."

Sora sank down on the other end of the couch and noticed the sandwiches and tea on the table. He grabbed a sandwich and drank his tea quietly, not glancing in my direction. I stared at him for a moment before slowly reaching out my foot and poking his thigh.

Sora choked on his tea, then glared at me as soon as he caught his breath.

I looked innocent. "Sorry. Foot slipped."

"Hey, Riku, when I visited your house… where was your Mom?" Sora asked out of nowhere, setting down his tea.

I blinked. Thank you, Mr. Random.

"My mom's always gone. She travels a lot because she works for this big name company and she's like the corporate representative or whatever. She's been all over the world," I said, slightly confused.

"So, what does your Dad do?"

"He's a stock broker."

"Have you got any siblings?"

"No. Do you really want more than one of me running around? Male _or_ female?"

I saw Sora smile a bit and resisted the urge to smile as well. His grins were contagious at best.

"So, what's with all the questions?" I asked, finishing my sandwich and grabbing another. Sora took a huge bite out of his sandwich and shrugged.

"Just trying to get to know you, I guess. I mean, if we have to do this whole slave/master thing, then we might as well get familiar, right? Right."

I raised an amused eyebrow. "Okay, then. What about you? What do your parents do?"

"Well, my Mom works at a convenience store near our house," he answered, picking up his second sandwich. "And my Dad left a long time ago. He and my Mom are divorced. I've never met him."

Suddenly, I felt bad for asking, although Sora was still eating as though saying it had no effect on him at all. I did, however, notice that he began to eat his sandwich a little bit faster.

"It's okay, though. My Mom and I get through everything together. We're like a team, I guess," Sora finished, reaching for another sandwich. "She's really cool, even if she does embarrass me sometimes."

I could relate to that, but I just kept quiet. It wasn't very often I got to see Sora smile a smile that actually reached his eyes when he was around me. It made him look even more beautiful.

"There was this one time, Mom and I had this picnic for her birthday, only it started to rain so Mom used the picnic basket for a hat and I used the blanket and we had to stay under one of those giant rocks until the rain stopped and we could go find the car. It was so much fun. We talked for _hours_."

Sora turned to look at me, then blinked. "Why are you looking at me like that, Riku? Riku? Are you—mmph!"

Before I had a chance to think about it (something I rarely did), Sora was pinned under me and our lips were fused together. He gasped, and I took advantage of that to slip my tongue into his mouth, tasting the sandwich he'd been eating moments before.

Sora relaxed for a moment before tensing up and turning his head to the side, glaring at the wall. "Pervert."

"Oh, but you love me," I replied after I'd caught my breath.

"I'd love it even more if you'd get off me, bastard."

I complied with his wishes, getting to my feet and letting Sora pull himself back up into a sitting position. He glared at me.

"I'm never telling you anything again," Sora announced, pouting slightly. I resisted the urge to jump him again.

"Sorry. I couldn't help myself."

"They need to buy you a leash. And a muzzle. And a cage. A really _small_ cage," Sora continued, obviously quite pissed at me. "And lock you up in a prison or something, for perverts and child molesters."

"Is that your way of saying you enjoyed it?" I asked in amusement.

Sora blushed. "No!"

"Is that your way of saying yes?"

He glared at me again and I knew I was right.

* * *

_"Never think about the mistakes you made. Think about the mistakes you will make." — **Unknown **_

_.Sora._

After I'd finished the rest of the sandwiches and Riku had taken the plates to the kitchen to wash them, I was feeling pretty restless. Mostly because if I stayed still for too long, my mind went back to that stupid kiss.

Which I didn't enjoy. Not nearly as much as the one on the beach.

Wait. Pretend I never said that. Is it too much to ask to want the kissing to stop completely? I mean, _honestly_.

I pressed my fingers to my lips and smiled a bit. Okay, maybe I could admit it to myself. Maybe I did enjoy the kisses just a little bit. Maybe I haven't completely gotten over that crush. But that didn't change the fact that Riku was an asshole, with no evidence to prove otherwise.

"We should probably get home," Riku said, coming out from the kitchen. "You can sleep over at my house, if you want. I doubt your Mom expects you back until tomorrow."

The sad part was that he was probably right.

I glared. "Alright. But only if you promise to keep your hands and lips to yourself."

"I'll try," Riku conceded in a humble voice. "But you're just so molestable."

I rolled my eyes and got off the couch, pulling on my sneakers. When I finished, Riku was already standing by the door, waiting for me. He opened the door, waiting for me to walk through before locking up. I didn't bother to wait for him and instead just walked along the beach until he caught up.

"You're not going to try and kill me in my sleep, are you?" Riku asked, falling into step beside me.

I smirked. "I wasn't, but now I'm considering it."

"You'd be depriving the world of one of the few sexy creatures it has."

"I think the world can live. You, however, won't. So I win." I snickered as Riku attempted my infamous pout, but looked more like he was brooding than sulking. Nobody did it better than me and I looked the cutest doing it.

Riku read this on my face and fell back into an annoyed scowl. "Shut up."

"I didn't say anything," I replied, unable to keep the cocky grin off my face. "I did not say a thing."

My lips twitched with the effort of not laughing, though. Riku stared at me blankly for a moment. Then his arm snapped out and wrapped around my waist, pulling me right up against him.

I struggled. "Riku! You said you'd keep your hands to yourself!"

"Bad arms," Riku said with a smirk. "Let Sora go. Oh, what do you know? They won't listen to me anymore."

I sighed, looking up at him with a frustrated look on my face, but he just continued smirking at me. So, I gave up and just let him hold me since he wanted to so badly. I could make my great escape tomorrow. I'd go and hide somewhere and he'd never find me until the week was up and I could go poison his food or whatever.

"Don't you have some of your adoring bimbos to do this with?" I asked in a defeated voice. Riku ruffled my hair.

"That's so cute. You're jealous."

I snorted. "Yeah, sure."

"It's okay to admit it. Jealousy is a healthy emotion."

"That's nice, but I'm not jealous."

"Don't worry. They mean nothing to me. You're the only person who's got a place in my heart."

I stared at him flatly, despite my sudden desire to believe him. I squelched the feeling and pushed him away from me. "Let's just get to your house, okay? I'm _not_ jealous."

Riku smiled warmly. "You can't resist forever. Sooner or later…"

"I'm ignoring you," I interrupted, scowling. "Blatantly ignoring you. Take the hint and go drown yourself."

* * *

_"There are people I would take a bullet for and people I'd like to put a bullet in." — **Benji**** Madden**_

_.Riku._

It was extremely hard for me to keep my hands to myself during the entire walk home. Sora was in full-out sulking mode – eyebrows furrowed, shoulders hunched, arms folded, and the famous pout on his lips. He was also still ignoring me and any stabs I made at conversation.

And without talking to distract me, my mind kept wondering to other things Sora could be doing with that mouth. Besides the pouting, I mean.

In order to keep my hands to myself, I kept having to find ways to douse my libido before I did anything drastic (that tree on the corner was starting to look comfy and it had lots of leaves on it that could hide any… misdeeds).

Inside my head, it was a little like a ping-pong match.

Sora's looking pretty hot right now.

_Kairi.__ In a bikini._

Look at those lips. That hair.

_Kairi.__ Half-naked and wearing a thong._

That tiny rump…

_Kairi.__ Naked._

That just killed it right there. Sora continued on, completely unaware of my inner struggles. In fact, his mind seemed to be elsewhere totally and his cheeks were mildly pink.

It made me wonder if he was thinking about me or someone else. Just because he hadn't been hanging around with anyone else lately (that I knew of, anyway), didn't mean that he'd taken a liking to me.

What if he already liked someone else and I was just getting in the way? Actually, that didn't even register on my conscience. Sora was mine and mine alone. There was no way I was letting anyone else touch him the way only I should be allowed to touch him.

But try telling _Sora_ that.

"Hey, Sora, do you like anyone?" I asked out of nowhere. I was afraid he was going to keep ignoring me, but then he turned those sky-blue eyes on me, obviously confused.

"I like a lot of people. What does that have to do with anything?"

I rolled my eyes. "No, I mean, do you have a crush on anyone?"

His eyes widened in comprehension and slowly, his cheeks turned pink again. "No."

"Are you sure?" I asked dubiously.

"Yes."

"Was that a 'yes, I'm sure' or a 'yes, I have a crush on someone'?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"You're sure you have a crush on someone?"

"No!"

"So, you don't have a crush?"

"Yes."

"You have one, then?"

"ARGH, SHUT UP!" Sora snapped, frustrated. "I HAVE NO CRUSH! A CRUSH DOESN'T EXIST! MY LOVE LIFE IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS, ANYWAY, SO EVEN IF I DID HAVE A CRUSH, I WOULDN'T BE DISCUSSING IT WITH YOU! DROP IT ALREADY!"

I looked at him, trying my best to seem hurt. "I was just trying to get to know you, Sora. I mean, god, you hate me when I'm mean and hate me even more when I'm nice. Where's the justice?"

Sora's eyes flickered with guilt. He frowned and looked away. "That's just because… because…" His voice softened. "You're always so mean. When you're nice I… I don't know how to feel about it. It's so confusing."

"Is that what you've been thinking about this whole time?" I ventured, looking at him intently.

"Well, yeah… You're just a mystery wrapped in an enigma and stuffed inside a box of… of Girl Scout cookies."

I blinked at him, then decided not to ask. The day Sora made sense was the day I got down on my hands and knees and asked Tidus to marry me. Assuming, of course, he stops liking Selphie, she starts liking him, and then hell freezes over.

"We're almost at your house," Sora said, breaking the silence. "Hey, look, there's an extra car in your driveway."

I looked in the direction he was pointing and noticed the Rolls-Royce that was parked there. My eyes flew to the license plate: AYU OWNS U.

"Oh, good. Mom's home," I stated, cheerfully. "She's been in Australia for, like, a month now."

Sora noticed the license plate and wrinkled his nose. "Is your entire family crazy?"

"We're not crazy," I defended. "We're just a little weird."

Sora snorted disbelievingly, but made no more protests as we walked down the long driveway towards the house. I grabbed the key from under the front mat and opened the door, looking around.

"Dad? Mom? I'm home. And I brought company!" I called as Sora closed the door behind him and stood beside me sheepishly. Mom appeared at the top of the grand staircase, her eyes sparkling mischievously as she spotted Sora.

I froze. Her white-blond hair had a distinctive just-been-kissed look to it and her face was even more flushed than usual. And, was it me, or was her make-up smeared and her clothes a mess.

"Oh god, please tell me I didn't interrupt—"

"Riku, darling, welcome home. Who's this? New boyfriend?" Mom interrupted, not answering the question. "Your father's, erg, _asleep_. Yes, asleep. You, boy, what's your name?"

"S-Sora, ma'am."

"That's adorable! Is he your new sex toy, Riku?"

Sora gave me a glare that plainly said that if I dared agree, he'd kill me in my sleep. I smiled. "No, mother. There was a fund raiser auction at school and I won Sora. He has to be my slave for the rest of the week."

Mom grinned. "Oooh. _Kinky_."

Sora rolled his eyes. "It is _not_—"

"Sora's spending the night, so I'm just going to take him up to one of the guest rooms, okay? And, could you tell one of the maids to call the Harada residence and tell Mrs. Harada that Sora won't be home until tomorrow afternoon? We're going shopping." I said, ignoring Sora's squeak of indignation. "Good to have you back, Mom."

"Good to see you happy, son," Mom replied, beaming. She hurried back up the stairs and I shook my head. Dad was asleep, huh? Yeah. Right. I'd be better off calling Mrs. Harada myself. Mom was far too distracted.

"We're going _shopping_, huh?" Sora asked tersely. "Since when?"

"Since I just said it," I answered. "Now, come on. We've got to go set up your room."

* * *

_"When in doubt, make a fool of yourself. There is a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative and acting like the most gigantic idiot on earth. So, what the hell, leap." — **Cynthia Heimel**_

_.Sora._

The guest room was huge, probably bigger than my room and my mom's room put together. However, Riku didn't seem the least bit impressed by it.

"This is one of our older rooms," he explained, obviously confused by my amazement. "We haven't gotten a chance to renovate it yet, so it's still kind of small and lacking the same luster the rest of them have."

If this was lacking, I'd probably faint at the sight of the others.

"But this one's also right across from my room so that's why you're staying here. Unless, of course, you want to sleep with me tonight, in which case—"

I was well aware of the double meaning in his words, so I cut him off with a glare. "_This_ is fine. It's better than my room, anyway, and it hasn't got any raging hormonal perverts in it." I eyed him scathingly. "No, wait, yes it does."

Riku chuckled. "I'm not a raging hormonal pervert. That would imply that I'll jump anything that moves. The only person I want to jump is you, Sora."

I turned my head away and stomped over to the bed before he could see the intense blush that was rising on my cheeks. Why was he _doing_ this to me? Did he enjoy seeing me squirm or something? Or maybe the reason was deeper than that?

But that couldn't be it. I couldn't let myself believe that. What was that old saying? "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me"? That was exactly how I felt. I'd already entertained ideas of what it would be like to be with Riku, but those illusions were shattered awhile ago.

If he thought he could get me to like him _again_, then he was smoking something.

"I'll go get you some clothes to sleep in… unless you want to sleep in those?" Riku asked from behind me. I wouldn't admit it, but I was starting to get attached to these clothes. They smelled like him.

But I would never, _ever_ admit that!

Instead, I shrugged my shoulders. "Doesn't matter."

"Okay. I'll be right back."

I waited until I heard his footsteps in the hallway, then took the opportunity to sit down on the bed and pull off the shirt. I inhaled his scent deeply for a moment, then pulled it back on just as Riku walked back into the room.

"These are mine, too, so they might be a bit big on you, seeing as your testosterone hasn't kicked in yet," he said, distinctly amused.

I stuck my tongue out at him and pulled off the old shirt, replacing it with the black silk pajama top. Since the shirt extended all the way to my thighs, I deemed it safe to pull off my pants with Riku still in the room, and pulled on the pajama bottoms, rolling up the legs so that I wouldn't trip over them.

Riku smiled and helped me roll up the sleeves so that I could actually _use_ my hands, then stepped back to look at me. "You still look adorable wearing my clothes."

I rolled my eyes and ignored him. The silk was extremely comfortable and it felt dreamy. And even better, the pajamas smelled like Riku, too. But then, I suppose, all his stuff did.

I paused as a sudden thought occurred to me. "Riku? What do you use this guest room _for_?"

Riku was silent for way too long.

"Oh, _ew_," I cried. "I am _not_ sleeping in this bed!"

"You can always sleep in my bed," Riku said sheepishly. "Nobody but me has ever slept in it, I swear."

I gave him a dubious look, but I could tell he was totally serious. I frowned. "Then, why are you letting _me_ sleep in there?"

Riku looked at me impatiently. "I thought I'd made that _abundantly_ clear already."

My cheeks turned pink against my will and I looked down at my feet. Still, I felt it necessary to restate my earlier protests. "You're not sleeping in that bed with me."

"Where am I supposed to sleep then?"

"In here with the memory of all your whores, of course." I said calmly. "If you cared enough to bring them to your _house_ to do the deed, then surely you can sleep in that bed without caring much, right?"

"Sora—"

"_Right_," I continued, not letting him answer. "May you and your right hand have a good night, Riku. I'll see you in the morning."

"Sora—"

I intended on making a dramatic exit right about then, but Riku grabbed me around the waist and flipped me around, looking down at me with an intense look in his eyes.

"I never did more than make out with somebody in here, Sora," he told me, his voice dripping with raw honesty. "_Nothing else_."

"I—I—" I stammered, losing my composure for a second. But then, it was back and I frowned. "What makes you think I care what you do and who you do it with? I'm not your boyfriend and I never will be."

"That's open for debate," Riku said, but he let me go and walked over to the bed, pulling back the comforters. "I'll see you in the morning, Sora."

I stared at him for a minute, but he was completely avoiding my eyes. I sighed. "G'night, Riku."

I walked out of the room and across the hall to Riku's room which, true to his word, was even bigger and better decorated than the guest room. Riku had one of those canopy beds, with a midnight blue motif. It was somehow very fitting of him.

And I was the only person other than him to have been in here? That was just sweet, and more than a little confusing.

Why couldn't he just make it easy for me and stay mean? Or stay nice? Every time I thought I hated him, he did or said something to make me think that there might just be a chance that I could love him. And every time I thought I loved him, he did or said something that made me want to kick his ass.

Confusion had a human form and its name was Riku.

* * *

**End Part IV**


	5. Of Cheating And Shopping Trips

**Title:** Born To Be Wild

**Author:** Slashapalooza

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Kingdom Hearts. I do, however, own a wide variety of little Kingdom Hearts sprites (from COM) that I got from some Invision forum somewhere that I forgot the name of. They even have a cute little goth Selphie with these red streaks in her hair… I totally want to use that in a story one day. Erm… moving on…

**Author's Note:** Well, at this point in time, I have rewritten what is to happen in chapters to come. Actually, I've rewritten what's to happen in the chapters to come in all my stories. Except Separate Lives, because it had been rewritten already since I lost the first copy.

And now I'm rambling. Anyway, point is, new ending to this story and I hope you like it. It's also shorter than it was before. Er, I love you?

**Author's Note 2:** Has it really been three months? I'm sorry!

**Author's Note 3:** Got a new beta and thanks to her speedy beta-ing, I can finally put this chapter out. It's been written for awhile, but now, thanks to Brittani, it's out. Thank goodness. Sorry for the delay. I'll make it up to you all with a Christmas fic. Promise.

**Thanks To:**

SasuNaru-kun, Shimmer of an Angel, da devils disguise, WhisperedHello666, Atomic - Toaster, SilverEmerald-DAS, KyokiXKurama, chris, Autumn Days, tenshisuki, Honey Nut Loop, Garnet-Crystals, OspreyAnimeG, WhiteLightning, demon-flying, Jancat, lovergirlalot, Max and Ray's Girl, Quin, telynaayuri, volian, EmeraldSnake11, Yamato's Tiger Lily, Ahnouthei, Gina, thunder sister, ChibiNekoSakura, Elly Yuki, Izumi, sol fa, greyspark, Omnimalevolent, Lain of the Weird, Iris, RuN-Fr0m-h3r3, KawaiiSanurah, Zract, Tifa-sama, Kori Tenshi, Moomba Luver 385, Kanarah K, Rinoki Rio, Twinstar1, marikandcloe, DClick, Momochi Zabuza, The New Shinigami Hikari, urufu-misora, karyl, Ayeshagirl, Lilitha, The Chaotic Ones, Laic, Froggy2589, Selphie1234, animekittynyan, Lady Samurai, Riku's gurl, Riku's-Kitsune-Mate, cRoZx aNgeL, Sexy Sora, King Mana, emeraldwold, labarynth-mind, and anybody else who reviews after this point.

**Date Begun:** September 2, 2005

**Date Posted:** December 7, 2005

**Part V:** Of Cheating And Shopping Trips

"_I try to do the right thing with money. Save a dollar here and there, clip some coupons. Buy ten gold chains instead of twenty. Four summer homes instead of eight." — **L L Cool J**_

_.Riku._

Something was jabbing into my side. On any other morning, I would have assumed it was the edge of my side table or something and rolled over and gone back to sleep, but this thing was warm.

I cracked open an eye and was nearly blinded by a brown spike. A familiar brown spike.

I sat up in bed and pulled back the covers slightly to confirm my suspicions. Yes, Sora Harada was in my bed. In _my_ bed. _With_ me. In my _bed_.

I wondered if he was aware of this.

His features were completely and totally relaxed and he had one arm wrapped around a pillow, which is where the elbow that had been jabbing me had come from, while the other arm was slung off the bed. His head was tilted in my direction and his chest rose and fell evenly in his sleep.

Fuck, he was beautiful.

Mom walked by the room carrying a can of whipped cream and paused, seeing that I was awake. She noticed an extra lump in my bed and smirked. "Looks like you got busy last night. I knew this whole thing was kinky."

"I don't know how he got here, I swear," I whispered, keeping one eye on Sora to make sure I didn't wake him. I wanted to at least get out of the bed first. That way I could run if he decided to kill me. "And we're both clothed, if you hadn't noticed."

"Whatever," Mom replied, walking on to wherever she was headed.

I got out of bed, glancing back at Sora one more time, before leaving the room and following her. "What's for breakfast? And what time is it?"

"The maids made pancakes, waffles, bacon. And it's almost noon."

I hummed thoughtfully. Sora and I could head directly to the mall after we ate breakfast. I was determined to make him see that I was not a bad guy. Maybe there was something at the mall he really wanted and never had the money to get.

Enter me, Riku the Rich Hero, who would buy it for him and get the kiss of gratitude. Or so it went in my little fantasy world.

Mom walked into her bedroom and shut the door, leaving me alone in the hallway. I blinked, remembering what she'd been carrying.

"Shit," I exclaimed, a disgusted look on my face. I'd never be able to get that image out of my head without some heavy medication and nine years of therapy. No, not nine. _Nineteen_.

"Mornin'," Sora murmured, eyes closed, as he shuffled past me.

I blinked and jogged after him. "Hey! Where're you going?"

"To the bathroom," he explained in the same half-asleep voice. He stopped for a moment, then whipped around and stared at me as though he'd never seen me before. "You're not my Mom!"

I smirked in amusement. "I should hope not. That would make all the thoughts I've been having about you quite disgusting. And illegal."

Sora rubbed his eyes and stared at me again. Then he surveyed his surroundings and slumped. "It wasn't a bad dream."

I decided to let that comment slide and instead walked over to him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and leaning in close to whisper, "Want to explain why I woke up to the joyous sight of you in my bed?"

His face turned bright red. "No."

"Fine." I tried not to look arrogant. "Did you enjoy yourself?"

"_No_!" Sora shoved me away and stomped down the hallway, muttering under his breath. He stopped again near the elevator and turned, looking sheepish. "Um… where's the bathroom?"

I grinned. "Come here. I'll draw you a map. And hurry up; I want to get to the mall sometime before I turn fifty."

* * *

"_Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go." — **Oscar Wilde**_

_.Sora._

I had a bear named Mr. Snuffa McSnufflingtons. That was my excuse.

Sleeping all alone, in Riku's huge bedroom, without Mr. Snuffa McSnufflingtons, just didn't feel right. Not to mention the fact that I could barely get to sleep without immediately waking up and wondering what was up with Riku and his erratic…ness.

Around midnight, I got fed up and stomped over to the guest room to give Riku a piece of my mind.

Which didn't happen since Riku was quite soundly sleeping when I got in there. And when I poked him and demanded he wake up, he just rolled onto his side and kept on sleeping.

My options at the time had been go back to the empty room and stay up all night or crawl into bed with the devil's advocate. Obviously, I chose my room. Or, I would have, if Riku hadn't decided to grab me and pull me into his arms, muttering something about a 'good teddy'.

Oh the embarrassment. And, of course, I just had to fall asleep before he let me go so I hadn't had the chance to sneak back to my room. Oh the _embarrassment_.

I groaned and rested my head against the spotless sink briefly before standing straight and turning on the pipe. Maybe when I finished washing my face and stepped out of the overly large bathroom, I'd be back in my house with Mom telling me to go downstairs because Kairi was waiting for me. And then Kairi and I would spend the whole day watching movies and making fun of the bad acting or bad plot or bad something. We had a knack for finding at least one thing wrong with any movie and picking at it and picking at it. People hated watching movies with us.

I sighed a little. I hadn't seen Kairi in awhile. Nowadays, all I saw was Riku. Not that Riku was bad to look at or anything, but still…

"_Dude… he's gay."_

"_Kairi, it's Ten Things I Hate About You. Patrick is **not** gay!"_

"_Is too._ _Look at his hair. Look at those tight muscle shirts. He's **so** gay it's not even funny. I predict tons of slash fanfiction between him and Cameron."_

"_That's just 'cause you love slash fanfiction. Now, if we're talking about gay, let's talk about that Michael dude. **He** is so gay…"_

Sigh.

Someone knocked on the door and Riku's voice called, "Hurry up, Sora. Breakfast is waiting and we're going shopping, remember?"

"Bite me. I'm busy."

"Take a piss at the mall!"

"That's unsanitary!" I paused. "And I'm not taking a piss, bastard!"

He sighed in irritation. "Whatever. Just hurry up before your food gets cold. The maids went through a lot of trouble."

That was one point in his favor; he thought about the maids. I guess that meant he was somewhat, kinda, slightly considerate in a miniscule, conceited sort of way. Whatever.

"Okay," I called back, running my fingers through my hair and looking at myself in the mirror. My hair was sticking up all over as usual. You could barely even tell I had bed head except for a few spikes that were slightly smushed. It was barely noticeable, though, so I decided to forgo washing my hair that morning.

"So-_ra_!"

I rolled my eyes. "All right, all right. I'm coming."

* * *

**_Nathan:_** _It's not like I was trying to show off.  
_**_Haley:_** _Wasn't that your default setting?  
_—**_One Tree Hill_**

_.Riku._

I was half-way through my breakfast by the time Sora finally came downstairs and it took all of my of my self-control not to make any perverted comments about exactly what I thought he was doing in there.

He noticed that his plate was directly next to mine and gave me a look, picking up the dish and stomping all the way down to the other end of the table, as far away from me as possible.

I raised an eyebrow. "You haven't gotten over your Riku-phobia yet?"

"Maybe with some expensive therapy, I will, but, currently, I'm poor, so…" Sora replied, having to shout slightly so that I could hear him. Even I, who properly appreciated being rich, didn't understand why we needed a table that filled up three quarters of the room. "And why are we going to the mall today?"

"Because I want to shower you in lavish gifts in the hopes that you will see past my sucky exterior to the true being within."

He stared at me. "A pervert?"

Luckily for him, he was too far away for me to throw my pancake without a possibility of missing. "No."

"A child molester?"

"You're only a _year_ younger than me!"

"And yet I would still have a case in a court of law."

He was smirking at me in that annoyingly smug way that I was famous for smirking in, which was seriously leading me to believe he was spending way too much time with me. And that might actually be a bad thing, Heaven forbid.

I glared at him. "I hate you right now."

"Good, so can I go home?" Sora asked hopefully, even as he stuffed a whole pancake in his mouth, causing his cheeks to puff out while he chewed. I tried not to look disgusted.

"No. I told you, we're going shopping so I can shower you in lavish gifts in the accordance to the wishes of my inner angel-slash-sex god." I smirked. "Actually, the sex god wants me to put my… _talents_ to better use, but I think you'd kill me if I attempted."

He muttered something that sounded vaguely like 'sicko' before finishing the pancake in his mouth and digging into another. He grinned. "Hey, this stuff is really good!"

"We don't hire people based on how good they look in their aprons, you know," I said with a slight roll of my eyes. "Especially not with Mom here. All our chefs are old, bald, or just plain ugly – but they cook really well."

"Man, I'd _live_ here if it didn't have you in it."

Gee. Thanks.

He seemed to read the look on my face and swallowed his mouthful. "What? It's the truth."

"Oh, shut up."

Sora grinned at me. "You're funny, you know? You get that hopeful look on your face and then it falls and you get all sulky."

"I hope you know that makes you a sadistic bastard," I pointed out, trying not to look as sulky as I probably did at the moment. "A really sick, sadistic bastard."

Sora ignored me and shoved more pancakes into his mouth, chewing and then swallowing. He finished off the last pancake and stood. "Okay, let's go to the mall. The sooner we go, the sooner I can go home."

"Of course. Far be it for you to actually have _fun_," I muttered, standing up as well.

* * *

_"I guess in this society, being male and an asshole makes you worthy of our time." — **Kat Stratford (10 Things I Hate About You)**_

_.Sora._

I've never met a person who could sulk as much as Riku did in one day, then deny it so vehemently. Every time I glanced at him and kindly asked, "What's your problem?" he would kindly reply, "Bite me."

The limo that he'd insisted we take dropped us off in front of the local mall, which made Riku seem to perk up. He grinned at me. "Well, here we are. What have you always wanted in this mall that you could never afford to buy?"

I wondered if it would be awful of me to tell him that I hated shopping at the mall. The only things I ever bought were movies, purely for the fun of inviting Kairi over.

I stood there silently, debating over my reply, until he grabbed my arm and tugged me into the mall. "It's okay. You can pick it when we see it, I guess. You've never gone shopping with _me_ before."

"I'm so excited," I deadpanned, but, nevertheless, I let him drag me into some shoe store.

He gestured towards the shelves. "See anything you like?"

"No."

Riku frowned a bit. "What, you don't like shoe shopping?"

"No."

"Fine. We'll go somewhere else."

Next on the list was a huge clothes store, but I wasn't into that either. He took me to a sporting goods store, a jewelry store, and even a store for doodads, whatever those were.

Finally, we took a rest stop at the food court.

"Don't you want anything?" Riku asked, stirring his milkshake. I was busy playing with the salt packets. Mall Milkshakes tasted like crap to me.

"Not really, no. I want to go home," I replied, setting down the salt. "Please?"

"No. I want to buy you something first." He paused. "In fact, I order you to let me buy you something."

I glowered at him. "And I order _you_ to kiss my ass. I said I don't want anything."

"Ah ah ah, slaveboy." Now he was back to the smug bastard I knew and hated. "You're mine for the rest of the week, got it? Now I _order_ you to let me buy you something."

"I don't _want_ anything!"

"Then just pick something!"

"That's a waste of money."

"In case you haven't noticed, Sora, I'm _rich_!"

"And in case _you_ didn't notice, I don't _care_!" I pushed out my seat and stood up. "God, you're so shallow! You know, people might like you if you let down that bastard barrier you wear around and let them see what a nice guy you can be. But nooo, you have some weirdass set of standards you have to live up to and it's pissing me off."

Riku just stared at me.

"I'm out of here. Catch you later, asshole." I pushed my chair out of the way and stormed away.

I stood on the curb and screamed, "TAXI!", trying to calm down. Maybe yelling at Riku was taking my anger to the PMS-side of furious. Maybe I should go back and apologize.

A taxi pulled up in front of me. Go back and apologize? Ha. Fat chance.

I got into the taxi and sighed. "To the park, please."

"Which one?"

"The biggest one in the whole city," I muttered. I could take a long, long walk through the park to cool down and maybe—_maybe_—call Riku later to apologize. Maybe.

"Got it."

* * *

"_Afterism (n) - A concise, clever statement you don't think of until too late." —**John Alexander Thom**_

_.Riku._

He'd been gone for at least five minutes and I was still speechless.

Being called shallow didn't bother me. It wasn't like I hadn't heard it before. In fact, I'd heard him saying that about me many, many times before. Still… it amazed me how it was when he was really and truly pissed at me that he knew me the most.

I put a hand to my forehead and slumped down in my seat, letting the hand fall over my eyes as I sighed. Why couldn't he just make it easier for me and fall at my feet like everybody else at school? Why did he have to be so…

_Sora_. Then again, I suppose, if he wasn't Sora I wouldn't be interested.

Still. That wasn't how it was supposed to go. He was supposed to fall into my arms in gratitude, screaming 'take me' and then we'd hurry back home to my house at which point we'd… er… _talk_. Many times.

Okay, so I was definitely a bit delusional, but I could dream.

I sat there for another few minutes, then decided to go after him. Sure, I couldn't deny anything he'd said, but, hey, that had never stopped me before.

However, by the time I got outside, Sora was pulling away at break-neck speed in a taxi. I sighed and ran my hand through my hair, wondering what to do next.

I heard a giggle from behind me and noticed a group of girls eyeing my butt, their eyes moving quickly up to my face when I looked at them. Ah, girls. There was no better distraction.

I put on my most charming smile and walked over to them. "Hello, ladies. See something you like?"

The blond one with the huge… personality giggled, fluttering her eyelashes at me. "Yes, as a matter of fact. I like it _very_ much."

"Riku Masaki," I said, holding out my hand for a shake.

"Masaki, like… _The_ Masakis?" I nodded as she shook my hand, giggling again. "Mamiru Tateishi."

I took advantage of our joined hands to pull her flush up against me and looked down at her with a smirk. She was in a fit of giggles now. "So, Mamiru, are you busy right now? I've certainly got nothing to do." _Well, besides you,_ I added in my mind.

Mamiru glanced back at her friends, who were all giving her the thumbs up, then giggled. Again. "Nope. What… what do you have in mind?"

I opened my mouth to detail exactly what I wanted to do with her, when Sora's face suddenly sprang to the top of my mind.

_But, nooo, you have some weirdass set of standards you have to live up to and it's pissing me off._

Huh. That was odd.

I shook my head and looked back at her again. "Sorry about that. Anyway, what I think we should do is—"

_Sora._ _Sora, Sora, Sora…_

"—maybe grab a bite to eat inside and—"

_Sorasorasorasora._ _Sora wouldn't like this._

"—see a movie and head back to my place—"

_This is so wrong. She's not…_

"—back to my place and…" I trailed off, rubbing my temples and feeling a headache coming on. "You know, on second thought, nevermind. I _am_ busy."

Mamiru's smile turned into a scowl and I just knew I was in for it now. "Excuse me? You can't just—and—but—oooh!"

"I'm sorry?" I said, taking a step back and hoping that would placate her. "I just—I've got to go… um… wash my hair. Yeah. Takes a while."

"Yeah, right," Mamiru stomped her foot, shouting now. "Like that's a real reason for you to just suddenly dump me. And in front of my friends! There's just no excuse for—"

"I'm _gay_!" I shouted back. "I am a flaming homosexual! I like to sling it with other guys! I. Am. Gay."

I blinked as I realized that not only were Mamiru and her friends staring, but so was every single person on the sidewalk at that time. I groaned and covered my eyes with my hand. "Well, now that we've gotten that out of the way, I'm kind of semi-involved with someone right now, so, yeah, can't go out with you today, tomorrow, or ever."

"O-okay…" Mamiru said in a small voice. "Nice… nice meeting you. Bye then." She hurried over to her friends and, shooting furtive glances at me, they all hurried away.

_She's not Sora…_

I sighed. "Nice meeting you, too…"

* * *

**_Tino:_** _Want me to leave so you can say bad words?  
_**_Tino's_** **_Mom:_** _Yeah that would be nice..._

_.Sora._

"Here we are. Uehara Park," the guy, whom I'd dubbed Mr. Taxi Cab Driver Dude, or TCDD, even though the dog tag chain around his neck clearly read 'Shin', said. He glanced at the meter. "That'll be ten dollars."

I sighed, putting a hand into my pocket to pay him. My eyes widened slightly as I felt around; there was nothing there.

I pulled my pocket out and stared at the giant hole sticking out of it. My money must have fallen out.

Uh oh.

"Ten dollars," TCDD repeated, looking at me curiously. I looked from him to the door and back again. Could I make it?

I quickly pulled up the lock, opened the door, and jumped out of the car, racing into the park as fast as my legs could carry me.

"HEY, PUNK!" I heard him scream from behind me. I ducked into some bushes and rolled back onto my feet, then kept running through the shrubbery. If he was chasing me, I didn't want to make it easier for him to find me.

I ran until I came to the kiddy ground and decided to take a breather, my ears alert for any noise behind me. I didn't hear a thing, though. TCDD must have given up.

I could feel guilty later. At the moment, I needed to get to Riku's house and get my stuff. Preferably without getting arrested by the Taxi Driver's Union Bureau or something.

I kicked a rock out of my way and started jogging briskly towards the other exit to the park. Riku's house was just a couple blocks up. It wouldn't be too far a run.

I skidded to a halt as I noticed a familiar mustard yellow car parked at the exit.

Right then. Other way.

I ran back to the other side of the park, huffing and puffing by the time I reached the sidewalk. Thankfully, Taxi Cab Driver Dude was missing. Of course, now it'd be a six-block walk to Riku's house, but that was better than getting arrested.

I pushed my hair out of my face and sighed, wondering what Riku was doing. Maybe he was still sitting in the same place at the mall, staring blankly at the place I'd been sitting, mourning the loss of my presence and mulling over what I'd said.

He was weird like that.

Or maybe he was out trying to find someone to warm his bed tonight so he could forget about me – a conquest that never panned out.

Or maybe he was…

Why did I care anyway? Right. I didn't. At all. Because he was a total jerk who didn't care about anything about his own reputation. Yes. Keep that in mind, Sora, and you'll be fine.

My legs were killing me, but Riku's front door was opened which meant I didn't have to stand on the front steps for hours waiting for someone to come answer the door. I could be in and out in—

"Sora! Darling! Where's Riku?"

—in a few hours.

I turned and looked at Mrs. Masaki, who was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, looking at me in confusion. She glanced at the door briefly, then at me again. "Did you two have another fight?"

"Something like that, yeah," I admitted sheepishly, scratching the back of my head. "I came to get my stuff. I don't know where Riku is."

"Oh, come on. Let's have tea. I've been wanting to talk to you, anyway."

Like I had a choice. Sighing, I followed her as she turned and headed back into the kitchen. There was a kettle sitting on the stove and one cup of tea was already out. Mrs. Masaki set about the task of making mine while I took a seat.

"So, Sora. Who are you?" she asked without turning around.

I blinked. "Um… Sora Harada? I'm in a lot of Riku's classes at school? My best friend is Kairi Hotaka? I live with my mom?"

"None of that really tells me anything, but it's nice to know." Mrs. Masaki set my cup of tea down in front of me and took a seat next to me. "What do you think about Riku? I get the feeling you don't really like him."

"He's annoying," I said slowly. "Like, _really_ annoying."

"Do tell."

"He just… he irks me, okay?"

"Why?"

"Because he does."

"Why?"

"Because he's annoying."

"Why?"

"Because he's always trying to… to…"

"Be your boyfriend?"

"Yes. Wait, no! Be my… I don't know. Stalker."

Mrs. Masaki's eyes widened slightly. "Oh, _really_?"

"Yeah…" I murmured, my cheeks heating up. "Just not my boyfriend."

"Why not?"

"Because he likes to play with me. And, besides, I don't like him like that. He's stupid."

"Is he really?"

I was starting to get the feeling I was being patronized, especially the way her eyes kept widening and the way that knowing smile never left her face. I hated knowing smiles. My Mom had that look all the time, like she knew something I was too stupid to get yet.

Which is how she explained it, anyway. It was a Mom thing.

"Yes. Really," I said firmly, sipping my tea. "I don't like your son, Mrs. Masaki."

"I never said you did," she replied, eyes twinkling. "But he does like you."

I stared down at my tea and muttered, "Well, I'm not making _that_ mistake again."

Mrs. Masaki leaned forward. "What was that?"

"Nothing. I—"

"What is _he_ doing in here?" That voice didn't belong to either of us. Mrs. Masaki and I turned to see Mr. Masaki standing in the door way. He didn't look too happy to see me. "Isn't this the kid in that picture we found in Riku's pillowcase?"

"Okay, first of all, _you_ found," Mrs. Masaki corrected. Then she beamed. "Second of all, yes. This is Sora. Isn't he a cutie?"

Mr. Masaki frowned. "No." He narrowed his eyes a bit. "You're the one who was here cleaning."

"Yessir," I muttered, looking down.

Mrs. Masaki was unfazed. "Sora and I were just having a chat. Do you want to join in?"

"No."

"Well, then, go away."

"Why should I? This is my house. Make _him_ go away."

"I'll do no such thing!"

I blinked as they dissolved into petty bickering over whether or not I should be permitted to stay. Then my eyes went from them down to my half-finished tea to the wall to the table.

They were still going at it. They reminded me a lot of me and Riku. Except, of course, they were married and in love.

I silently slipped out of my seat and placed my teacup on the counter by the sink, then headed out of the kitchen, relieved when neither of them noticed.

I ran up the stairs to Riku's bedroom, finding my clothes neatly folded and sitting on the bed, smelling like Snuggle. I grabbed them and looked down at Riku's clothes, which I was _still_ wearing.

I should really take them off and put mine back on.

I pulled up the end of the shirt and sniffed it. It still smelled like Riku. Slightly paranoid, I glanced behind me, but there was no one watching, no one who could hold this against me, make fun of me, no way this could get back to Riku and cause him to never leave me alone.

So maybe it was okay if I kept it just a little. Only until the smell wore out. Maybe it was okay I liked the way he smelled.

I grabbed my clothes and hurried out of the room before I had any second thoughts, or decided to do something weird like take his stuff just because they belonged to him. I also pushed down my stupid thoughts.

_This looks like the beginning of a crush. Or the rekindling of an old one that never really left._

But, of course, that was ridiculous. That was over. I didn't feel anything for Riku. I just liked the way he smelled and the way he looked when he laughed or slept or breathed or…

I shook my head and brought myself back to reality.

"He can stay if he wants to stay!"

"Well, I don't want him to!"

"Let's ask him! Sora, do you—Sora? Sora, where are—Hey! You scared him off!"

I slipped out the door quickly before either of them noticed me standing there and put me on the spot. Or before they realized I was stealing their son's clothes.

* * *

**End Part V**


	6. Of Complications and Blatant Jealousy

**Title:** Born To Be Wild

**Author:** Slashapalooza

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts, because, obviously, if I did, Final Mix would totally be released over here first.

**Author's Note:** What's that? This story hasn't been updated in almost two years? Really? Huh. How about that. Well, I hope this chapter more than makes up for it, even though I had to change the chapter plan for this _again_ because I didn't like the way the story was going. Again. But, hey, that means updates for you so why should you care? Enjoy!

**Thanks To:** Everyone who pushed this story that much closer to 500 reviews. Because I mean, _wow_. You guys have no idea how much I appreciate it.

**Date Begun:** March 6, 2007

**Date Posted:** March 10, 2007

**Part VI:** Of Complications and Blatant Jealousy

"_Advice is like castor oil, easy to give, but dreadful to take."  
**Josh Billings**_

_.Riku._

The minion had been missing for the better part of the day and, for once, I was happy about it. I wasn't sure I could face Sora after what had happened at the mall the day before. I didn't know what was happening to me.

Well, I did, but I wasn't ready to face that just yet. Sora was supposed to be the challenge I did when I was bored—like the rubric cube I kept under my bed to play with on a rainy day, up until I got tired of it and just peeled off all the stickers. He wasn't supposed to be in my head. He didn't want to be there and _I_ certainly didn't want or need him there.

Falling for someone who had little to no interest in me? I'd pulled a lot of stupid stunts over the years, but this one had to take the cake.

Mom was hovering over me like a hawk, even though I hadn't moved much except to change the channel on the plasma screen TV with the remote control. Anytime it fell off the bed, I just buzzed one of the maids up to get it. Obviously, I was in full sulk mode, but try telling that to her.

Mom was under the impression that when people were upset, they needed company. She didn't hang around the house enough to know that when I was upset, all I wanted was my pitch black room and my TV remote until I was ready to go out for some air. Then again, Dad, who was around all the time, knew less than she did. Seriously, they needed to start some kind of exchange-a-parent program because mine kind of sucked.

"So," Mom said in a fake casual tone. So fake I didn't even need to make an effort to see through it. "About Sora."

I flipped the channel from the news to some documentary on the feeding habits of the manatee.

"He dropped by yesterday—sans you, obviously, or you would know about it—"

Despite the fact that this interested me, my only physical reaction was to flip the channel again. Some music video by some artist was on.

"—and we were talking about you," Mom continued as if I'd actually been listening. "You know how I think subtlety is overrated so I asked him a few things and… well, Riku, honey," She blocked my view of the video to touch my shoulder, green eyes sympathetic. "I think you're wasting your time with this one."

That got my attention. "What?"

"I said, I think you're wasting your time with this one," she repeated, pursing her lips. "He seems like a nice enough boy, _very_ cute. I can see why you like him. But I can't see him returning it." Mom must have seen something on my face because she quickly added. "Not that there's anything wrong with you."

I kept staring at her mutely. Mom had never looked favorably or unfavorably on any of my conquests. She pretty much turned a blind eye to what, or who I did, whether it was a boy or a girl I was sneaking up the stairs at one o'clock in the morning. Dad generally preferred it to be a girl so I could at least give him an heir before going off on my wild, homosexual adventures, but Mom had never cared.

But why now? And why put the stamp of disapproval on Sora, who had to be the best, if not the purest, of any of them?

"Look, Riku," Mom sat down on the bed beside me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder, pulling me closer. I managed to resist the urge to put up a fight. She was really strong when she wanted to be. "Sora just seems like the type to get attached and… you haven't had a steady girl- or boyfriend since you hit puberty."

"That's not true!" I spoke at last, indignant. "I dated that one girl. For a month. A whole month!"

Mom was not impressed. "Yeah? What was her name?"

"Emiko."

"Last name?"

I fell silent. Dammit.

Mom shifted on the bed, pushing me down until my head was resting in her lap and she was stroking my hair. It reminded me of what she used to do when I was younger and she was actually around for more than a few weeks at a time. Despite the fact that those days were long gone, I relaxed and just let her take care of me. She seemed eager to do it and I was just too tired to deal with this.

"Face it, sweetie. You're a flavor of the week kind of guy. Sora's a someday my prince will come kind of guy. Eventually, someone's going to get hurt," she cooed softly. "You can keep him for the rest of the week, but I really think that after the week is over, you should let him go and move on. How many days have you got left anyway?"

I thought about it. "Four more days, if you include today."

"Yeah, so, four days," Mom leaned down and kissed my temple. "I suggest you just have fun for the next four days. Not fun like make him clean your room again fun." How did _she_ know about that? "Fun like the two of you going to, I don't know, an arcade fun. Why don't you stop treating him like a conquest and start treating him like a friend?"

"And then what?"

"And then," She pushed me upright, shrugging. "You let him go."

This didn't sit right with me at _all_, especially not after today, but I didn't argue. I grabbed the remote again. "What time is it?"

"Almost five," Mom answered as she got to her feet and stretched. I turned off the TV, hesitating only a moment before getting up and heading to the closet for my coat. "Where are you going?"

I glanced at Mom over my shoulder, then began searching through my coats for one that _didn't_ have a designer label. "To Sora's. I only have four days to be friends with him, right?"

I could feel her smiling behind me, but I didn't look up until I'd heard the door quietly click shut.

* * *

"_Friendship is love without his wings."  
**Lord Byron**_

_.Sora._

Kairi was in the kitchen making popcorn, I was trying to decide between _The Parent Trap _and _Lady and the Tramp_ (Kairi's choices, not mine), and Riku hadn't bothered me all day. I thought I should be worried or something since he couldn't seem to go a day without cropping up in my otherwise peaceful life, but considering I'd stolen his shirt and all, I wasn't too eager to seek him out.

At best, he'd tease me about it. At worst, he'd want it back.

It was wrapped up in my pillows at the moment, which had gotten an odd look from Kairi before I'd all but kicked her out of my bedroom. I indulge myself _once_ and suddenly the universe is conspiring against me. Next thing you know, my Mom would find it and want to know why I was sleeping with a shirt that was too big for me.

"Do you want extra butter on your popcorn this time or just a pinch more salt?" Kairi called from the kitchen. I finally decided on _Lady and the Tramp_ and put it in the VCR.

"Salt," I called back, grabbing the VCR remote. I was already regretting giving Kairi the right to choose the movies we'd be watching tonight. I mean, sure I'd called her and begged her to come over for one of our movie nights before Riku drove me crazy. But Kairi always chose the girliest movies. Even I had limits. I was just lucky she hadn't felt like watching Titanic, because if I had to watch Jack and Rose in that car _one more time_—

The doorbell rang just as I pressed play. Instead of answering it, I threw myself down on the couch and grabbed a pillow to put behind my head. If Mom was back from bingo early, then she had a key. Anyone else was not more important than a night of bonding with my best friend.

Kairi walked out of the kitchen, jumping over the back of the couch and spilling popcorn all over the place as she landed beside me with a quirked eyebrow. "Aren't you going to answer that?"

"You were up first," I pointed out.

"It's your house," she retorted.

"I'm cuter than you."

"I've got boobs."

"Still cuter than you."

"Still got boobs."

I glanced at her chest. "Says you."

I was only slightly surprised at the fist that connected with my shoulder, no doubt leaving a bruise. But at least she got up, even if she was grumbling expletives under her breath. As if it was even _possible_ to do that with a soccer ball. Or a bicycle pump.

She stomped over to the door and flung it open. "Oh," she said, sounding surprised to see Riku there. Hell, _I_ could have predicted that one. "Hi."

"Close the door, Kairi," I said, grabbing a fistful of popcorn and stuffing it in my mouth. I'd already decided that ignoring him was the best route to take in this situation. "The movie's about to start and obviously there's no one of any real importance at the door.

Kairi snorted. "Give me a break, Sora. Actually, no, give _him_ a break." Her voice turned pleasant and I could have predicted this one, too. "Come on in. We're about to watch _The Lady and the Tramp_."

"You guys get together at night to watch romantic Disney movies?" Riku asked, sounding strangely docile. I tilted my head back to look at him. As usual, he was staring straight at me. However, instead of a smirk or a leer or even a playful smile, he seemed… tired. No, that wasn't the right word. Almost… defeated? Like a puppy that had been kicked one too many times.

What could have—No, I wasn't going to do this. That was how he roped me in. Showing emotions right before he grabbed my ass.

Kairi was skipping back to the couch and considered putting arsenics in her coffee tomorrow morning. Maybe I wouldn't even need to put it in her coffee. Maybe I could just dump it down her throat now. Who was Riku going to tell?

I expected him to have plopped down next to me and wrapped an arm around me or something like that by now, but he just stayed by the door.

"Are you going to watch with us or did you come to admire the doorpost?" I asked, handing Kairi the bowl so I could roll up onto my knees and look at him without hurting my neck. He didn't say anything. "Riku?"

"Hm?" He blinked once, twice, focusing on me. "Wait, what?"

I frowned. "What did you want?"

"Oh, I—" he hesitated, then plowed on. "I wanted to invite you to go with me to the arcade tomorrow."

"Um. What?"

What was wrong with him? He was not only being practically shy—the exact opposite of how he usually was—but he was asking me out? _Asking_ and not _ordering_? Didn't he still have forever and a day left to boss me around?

What was _wrong_ with him?

"Do you want to go to the arcade with me tomorrow? Like friends?" Riku asked, sounding a bit more confident now that he'd said it once. "If you're busy, I understand, but I just thought—"

"I—"

"He's not busy," Kairi interrupted, sitting up next to me and beaming in the face of my ineffective glare. "He'd love to go with you."

Riku didn't take his eyes off me. "Sora?"

"I…" There was just something so off about all of this, but… "Sure, I guess. That doesn't sound too painful."

It could have been my imagination, but I could have sworn he'd sighed in relief. He clapped his hands together. "So, what are we watching?"

Kairi slid over to make room for him between us on the couch and I sank back down, too puzzled to even scoot as far away as I could. Something had changed about him, I could tell. I just had no idea what it was. At least he wasn't asking for his shirt back. Which was not exactly what I needed to be thinking about right now.

Riku sat down, overwhelming with his scent. It took a huge amount of self-control not to inhale deeply and sigh. Our thighs were touching, I noticed immediately, but Riku was laughing at Kairi's ten second description of _The Lady and the Tramp_. Either he was acting innocent or he seriously didn't notice that our thighs were touching.

And if he didn't notice that our thighs were touching, and I did, there was a problem.

"Kairi, can I see you in the kitchen for a minute?" I said suddenly, standing and dragging Kairi to her feet. She struggled, but I managed to manhandle her into the kitchen anyway, taking a moment to peer out at Riku before hissing, "What the hell is his problem?"

She shrugged my hand off and gave me a look. "The fact that you keep treating him like shit maybe?"

"Well, excuse me if I don't believe the sun shines out of his ass like the rest of the school."

"That's not even it, Sora," Kairi snapped, scaring me. "You don't care that he's popular or that he's arrogant or that he's whatever-the-hell-else you keep admonishing him for. You're just scared."

I glared at her icily. "Oh, yeah? Of what exactly?"

"That's what I want to know!"

"Have you ever considered that maybe I just don't like him?"

"Have you kissed him?" Kairi demanded a second later.

"_He_ kissed _me_." I didn't mention the kiss on the beach. _That_ had been self-defense, but if I told her, Kairi would never let it go.

"And you let him?"

"Of course not!" I held up my fist, holding up a finger for each word I spoke. "I. Hate. Him. How hard is it to comprehend those three words? Or do you need three more? How about: Do. Not. Want."

Kairi growled and stomped her way out of the kitchen. As soon as she was gone, I collapsed against the counter, my hands in my hair. I hated fighting with Kairi, but what was I supposed to do? She obviously wanted me to shack up with Riku and I just… I couldn't.

I wasn't stupid. Going out with him now would be just like saying, "Hey, Riku, here's my heart. Go play darts with it and maybe later you can run over it with your limo. If it's still beating after that, feel free to torch it!" He wasn't boyfriend material. We wanted different things. It wouldn't work out. I refused, absolutely _refused_, to put myself out there when I knew I was just going to get hurt.

I was thinking so hard about this I almost didn't notice when Riku joined me in the kitchen, startling me from a safe distance. I wasn't sure whether I'd preferred to have been jarred out of my thoughts with a kiss or not. On the one hand, it would have meant he was back to normal. On the other hand, that would just prove Kairi's point.

"Hey, um, Kairi sent me to come check on you," Riku murmured without meeting my eyes. As if I hadn't already gotten the feeling he was lying.

My heart was somewhere near my throat, waiting for me to hand it over. I swallowed. "I'm fine," I said shortly, heading out of the kitchen. "Let's just watch the movie."

* * *

"_I was nauseous and tingly all over. I was either in love or I had smallpox."  
**Woody Allen**_

_.Riku._

I was starting to get the feeling that my very presence here was pissing Sora off. His jaw was set and he was staring at the television with such intensity that it was obvious he was trying to ignore the fact that I was sitting right next to him. And ever since she'd come out of the kitchen, Kairi had been a metaphorical glacier. Her answers were clipped and, every so often, she'd shoot Sora a dirty look around me.

I felt like a third wheel in a bad soap-opera. Any second now, Sora would stand up and declare that all this fighting was killing him on the inside and, oh, by the way, he had herpes which he had passed on to Kairi's sister's twin's cousin when he slept with her in an effort to get back at Kairi for cheating on him when they were twelve. And then Kairi would get up and announce that it was okay, because she gave gonorrhea to the mailman and also to the dog and did she mention they were having weird human-puppy babies from that? And _then_ they'd start making out, leaving me to sit in the shadows and wonder if any of that was even legal.

Should I leave? I really should have known better than to try and overstay my welcome, but when Sora had told me he'd come to the arcade with me, I'd been powerless to leave until he told me to.

Was this what love felt like? This overwhelming and scary, but new and exciting _thing_ that bubbled up in my chest every time Sora even looked at me? How sappy was _that_? I almost wanted to ditch him right now and save myself the trouble.

But the more I sat here, the more I couldn't help thinking that Mom had been right. Sora and I were too different to ever go out. I wasn't even sure if we could be friends, but I was willing to try. It was only three days, or less depending on how cooperative Sora would be. Still, at least I'd have something to look back on fondly when we got back to school on Monday and I was forced to make Sora and his bright blue eyes and his adorable pout and his spiky brown hair a memory.

I slumped down on the couch and tried not to look miserable.

The bowl of popcorn was in Sora's lap. I was afraid that if I reached for it he might think I was trying to grope him and then gnaw my hand off. I had to take baby steps with this friendship thing. I didn't have a lot of friends. I had people who hung around me, sure, but there were few people I'd actually go to with my problems.

Actually, now that I thought about it, there was really no one I trusted enough with my problems. Wow, I was pathetic.

"Would you shut up?" Sora whispered and I glanced up, wondering why he sounded more amused than angry. "You're thinking so loud I can't hear the movie."

I had to smile and I saw Kairi smile too out of the corner of my eye. "Sorry," I whispered back, taking a chance. "Those of us who can actually think like to do it frequently."

Kairi choked back a giggle and Sora glared at me. But this one was different than his usual glares. This one wasn't hostile.

"You suck," He said with a dramatic pause. "A lot."

"_That's what everone says,"_ was on the tip of my tongue. I pressed my lips together to keep it in and tried to pay attention to the movie. I'd never seen _The Lady and the Tramp_, or wanted to, as the romantic lives of animals was of no real interest to me. That's why I'd never seen _The Lion King_. The closest I'd come was _The Little Mermaid_, but that was ruined for me after I started wondering how the hell Triton managed to procreate so many daughters with that fish bottom and no male parts.

I was always such a perverted kid.

The three of us lapsed into silence again, but at least the air wasn't so tense anymore. Sora seemed to be contemplating something and Kairi was genuinely watching the movie this time. I wondered what they'd be doing if I hadn't shown up, then stifled the thought before I felt anything even remotely resembling jealousy. I had no right to be jealous and, anyway, I was Sora's friend and nothing more.

_Nothing_ more. Ever. I felt like a hormonal teenage girl with all the mood swings my thoughts were taking me through. I blamed the brunet next to me for that.

Sora nudged me with his shoulder and I was surprised when I looked up and saw a little smile on his face. "Okay, so, look. You're not going to go away, right?"

I considered telling him about my conversation with my Mom, then decided against it. I wasn't going to guilt him into being my friend by telling him that I'd be, in a way, seeing other people as soon as we got back to school. I just shook my head.

"Well," he fidgeted for a moment. "You seem to be actually trying to be my friend and I'm… I'm going to try and respect that. I can play nice. So if I start to slip or hate you just a little too much, you just… remind me that I don't mean it, alright?"

I knew Sora was talking to me, but he was looking at Kairi when he spoke. The smile I'd seen on her earlier was back and I knew they'd been talking about me in the kitchen. Not that I couldn't have guessed that, but it was pretty much confirmed now. At least they hadn't been making out or something.

"Alright," I said, bringing Sora's attention back to me. I gave him my best smile and held out my hand. "Riku Masaki. Nice to meet you."

Sora grinned back and shook my hand. "Sora Harada. Nice to meet you, too."

Kairi got up and wedged her way between us, placing her hands on top of ours. "Kairi Hotaka. Gentlemen, this is the start of a beautiful friendship."

Damn, I hoped so.

* * *

"_Treat your friend as if he will one day be your enemy and your enemy as if he will one day be your friend."  
**Anonymous**_

_.Sora._

Riku Masaki was in my kitchen washing my dishes. _Riku_ was washing _my_ dishes. At my house. Was anyone else seeing the utter randomness that was my life? Just this week, I was cleaning his room against my will. Now he was in my kitchen washing my dishes.

I really didn't know how to feel about this.

I got off the couch and took the tape from Kairi as she popped it out of the VCR, ignoring the smug smile on her face once we'd stood.

"Do you really think he can do it or were you just saying that to make me happy?" She asked, reaching up to pat down her hair and giving me an unnecessary view of her stomach as her pajama top rode up. Sometimes I wished I was actually interested in looking. It would make my life _so_ much easier.

"Well, I'm pretty sure he has something better he could be doing at ten at night other than washing my dishes." I shrugged. "That's something. And it's always less painful for me if you're happy."

"Is he sleeping over, too?"

I glanced at the kitchen, where the sounds of Riku singing 'Out Tonight' from Rent could be heard. "Hell no."

Kairi laughed, then patted me on the arm and went to join Riku in the kitchen. I sighed heavily, pressing a hand to my forehead and wondering why this all just seemed so… hard. It really shouldn't be this complicated. I was a friendly person. I made friends really easily when I felt like it. Why did being friends with Riku seem like it was going to be more trouble than it was worth? There was a pressure in my chest that wouldn't go away and tightened every time I thought about it.

I heard laughter—Kairi's light one intermixed with Riku's deeper laugh—coming from the kitchen and that just made me feel worse. I needed him out of my house before I went insane. And from _what_?

"Ah! Riku, stop it!" Kairi squealed and, before I realized I was even moving, I was standing in the doorway of the kitchen watching them wrestle over control of the spray pipe. Riku was winning, I guessed, since Kairi's shirt was soaked through and only the edges of Riku's hair were damp. "Give me that!"

Riku held it up over her head, then pressed the handle, dousing Kairi with enough water to make her look like she'd taken a bath with her clothes on. And to get the kitchen floor wet, which Mom wasn't going to like when she got back home.

Kairi jabbed a finger in my direction. "Would you get _him_ please? I'm so wet."

Riku and I exchanged glances. Even _I_ couldn't stop from snickering.

"Oh, grow up," Kairi said with a giggle of her own, wringing out her shirt. Seconds later, I was splashed with a wave of cold water as Riku turned the spray pipe on me. I grabbed a cup from the sink, half-full of soapy water.

Riku raised an eyebrow. "I have way more water in my ammo than you."

"Be that as it may, grasshopper," I said sagely. "I've been in way more water fights than you. I know all your weak spots."

Kairi scooted out of our way as we faced each other down, both waiting for the other one to attack. Riku didn't seem to be moving any time soon, so I zipped to the left only barely avoiding another spray of water, and pounced. My legs immediately wrapped around his waist as I dumped my cup of water over his head and made a grab for the spray pipe.

Riku toppled over, taking me with him, and sending the pipe flying. We ended up on the ground in a tangle of wet limbs, laughing so hard we could barely speak. Then we were being sprayed again; Kairi was getting her revenge.

"Get off me," Riku said between laughs, pushing at my chest. "You weigh a metric ton."

I stuck my tongue out at him and planted my butt firmly on his stomach, raising an eyebrow challengingly. I really should have known better. He had me pinned under him in seconds.

The room suddenly got very, very warm and I anticipated—I mean, _dreaded_—the kiss that always came in these kind of situations. I didn't see when Riku held out his hand to Kairi, so I was understandably shocked when I got a face full of water instead.

"HELP!" I gurgled, squirming out from under Riku and running to hide behind Kairi. Then I remembered where he'd gotten the spray pipe from and shoved her. "Traitor!"

She shoved back. "Whiner!"

"Meanie!"

"You suck!"

"That's what everyone says," I said cheekily, blinking at the surprised look that crossed Riku's face. "I'm just kidding, you pervert."

"Um, no, I—nevermind," he coughed and placed the spray pipe back on its stand. He looked around the kitchen, scratching his damp hair. "Oops."

I nodded, smiling. "Mom's going to kill me."

"Remember, guys, Kairi was never here," Kairi said as she shook the water out of her hair. "In fact, Kairi was never born."

"Yeah, it makes me feel better to believe that sometimes, too."

She punched me.

Riku chuckled, grabbing a washcloth. "You guys go do whatever you would be doing if I wasn't here. I'll clean this up."

"Don't be stupid," I took the cloth from it. "It's my house. I'll clean it up."

"I'll be in the living room," Kairi volunteered, already on her way out. "Hurry up and finish."

I shook my head. And she called _me_ lazy.

Riku had already found another washcloth and was on his knees, wiping up the water. He wasn't doing it very well, though, obviously not one accustomed to cleaning up his own mess. Huh. For awhile there I'd forgotten how rich he was. Actually, for awhile, it had seemed like we were…

Well.

Maybe this friend thing could work out after all.

I kneeled down next to him, placing a hand over his to stop it and smiling warmly. "Okay, stop, you're just spreading the water around. _Here's_ how you do it."

"Sora," Riku began quietly, looking down at our hands, then back up at me. He didn't continue, but I could see what he wanted. And right then, maybe I wanted it a little, too.

Too caught up in the moment to realize that this was exactly what I'd been trying to _avoid_, I closed my eyes, tilted my head, and leaned forward for the big kiss. But it never came. My eyes slid open, only to see that Riku had retreated to the far side of the kitchen and was scrubbing the floor so hard with the washcloth that it almost looked like he was trying to peel the floor off.

"Riku?" I whispered, voice shaking with the disappointment that I was trying to suppress.

He scrubbed harder. "I just wanted to ask if maybe using paper towels would be better to clean this up."

"…oh." This was so awkward. Was I really so _easy_ that I'd want to kiss him because he'd kept his hands to himself for a couple of hours? "I—I'm going to get the…" I stumbled to my feet, ignoring the way my heart was pounding painfully in my chest. "The…"

"Mop?" Riku suggested, equally uncomfortable.

"Yeah, that thing," and then I practically ran out of the room.

* * *

"_If you don't know what you want, you end up with a lot you don't."  
**Charles Palahniuk**_

_.Riku._

What just happened here?

Actually, better question, what was wrong with Sora? Yesterday, he was yelling at me and ditching me at the mall and today he was yelling at me and then trying to kiss me in his kitchen. Talk about mixed signals. And why did he have to be having this internal conflict _after_ I'd decided to stop chasing him?

He made no sense. This made _no_ sense. I took it out on the floor, scrubbing like I was trying to dig a hole with nothing but a washcloth and my bare hands. I heard the front door open and close, and Kairi's cheerful voice sing, "Welcome home, Mrs. Harada."

Oops.

I got to my feet and made it to the living room at the same time Sora did, already wondering what we were going to tell her about the watery mess in the kitchen. And all over us. Mrs. Harada, who had been smiling at Kairi, stared at Sora and I for a minute or two.

"Why are the three of you wet?" She asked, not sounding as confused as I would expect her to. "Did you start a water fight in my kitchen _again_, Sora?"

I looked at Sora. Again?

Sora caught my gaze and blushed. "No, I—"

"Without me?" Mrs. Harada continued with a sigh. "I thought I raised you right."

"Mom, it wasn't me! It was him!" Sora pointed at me, a pout beginning to form. "He invited himself over and he started a water fight in the kitchen with Kairi, but I was too good for him to beat and now the kitchen's all wet." He paused to take a breath. "And so are we now that I think about it, so we should all probably change."

"Actually, I should really just go," I said, clearing my throat and giving Mrs. Harada my most charming smile. "I'm sorry if Sora wasn't allowed to have visitors while you were gone. If you want, I'll finish cleaning the kitchen before I go."

She stared at me blankly, then seemed to cross the room in second to wrap me in a hug. "He's so polite! What were you complaining about all week, Sora?"

"I'm not sure myself…" Sora murmured as he shuffled his feet. "Come on, Kairi. You can borrow some of my clothes."

"Oh, good. We're about the same size, right?" Kairi and Mrs. Harada laughed at Sora's glare, which, admittedly, was not all that scary. "Can I wear that shirt you have wrapped around your pillow?"

"What? No!"

The horror with which Sora said this made me look up. He looked at me wide-eyed, then dashed out of the room. Again.

"What shirt?" I asked a giggling Kairi.

"I don't know. He's got this shirt in his room all wrapped up with his pillow. I went in there to put my stuff down after I finished changing in the bathroom and he was _sniffing_ it."

"Oh. That's not bizarre at all." I said sarcastically.

"It looks like it's big on him, too, so it can't be his." Kairi turned amused eyes on me. "You're not missing any shirts, are you?"

I had way too many clothes to be sure of that, but I played along. "Ah, so that's where it went to. Well, at least I know it's in good hands."

"KAIRI!" Sora shouted from the other room. "If you don't get in here, I'll put you out on the porch naked!"

Kairi smiled at me one more time, then headed in the same direction Sora had gone. Okay, maybe she was cooler than I had given her credit for. But that was before I'd spoken to her and when I'd been convinced she was after Sora. I liked to think it was her personality and not knowing that she wasn't in love with him that made my feelings change.

Mrs. Harada patted my shoulder. "You go on home, Riku. I'll clean the kitchen, but don't you dare come over here and start a water fight in my kitchen without inviting me again."

She was _definitely_ related to Sora. "I'll keep that in mind."

* * *

**End of Part VI**


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